[syn: end, destruction, death]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Destruction \De*struc"tion\, n. [L. destructio: cf. F.
destruction. See Destroy.]
1. The act of destroying; a tearing down; a bringing to
naught; subversion; demolition; ruin; slaying;
devastation.
[1913 Webster]
The Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of
the sword, and slaughter, and destruction. --Esth.
ix. 5.
[1913 Webster]
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Destruction of venerable establishment. --Hallam.
[1913 Webster]
2. The state of being destroyed, demolished, ruined, slain,
or devastated.
[1913 Webster]
This town came to destruction. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Thou castedst them down into destruction. --Ps.
lxxiii. 18.
[1913 Webster]
2. A destroying agency; a cause of ruin or of devastation; a
destroyer.
[1913 Webster]
The destruction that wasteth at noonday. --Ps. xci.
6.
Syn: Demolition; subversion; overthrow; desolation;
extirpation; extinction; devastation; downfall;
extermination; havoc; ruin.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
destruction
n 1: the termination of something by causing so much damage to
it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists [syn:
destruction, devastation]
2: an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys
something [syn: destruction, demolition, wipeout]
3: a final state; "he came to a bad end"; "the so-called
glorious experiment came to an inglorious end" [syn: end,
destruction, death]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
173 Moby Thesaurus words for "destruction":
Waterloo, abomination, abscission, amputation, annihilation,
assassination, atrocity, bad, bane, bankruptcy, beating,
befoulment, bereavement, blight, blood, bloodletting, bloodshed,
braining, breakage, breakdown, breaking down, breaking up, breakup,
collapse, confusion, conquering, conquest, corruption, cost,
crack-up, crash, crippling, crying evil, damage, dead loss,
dealing death, deathblow, debacle, debit, defeat, defilement,
demolition, denial, denudation, deprivation, despoilment,
despoliation, destroyer, destruction of life, detriment,
devastation, dilapidation, disablement, dispatch, dispossession,
disrepair, divestment, downfall, drubbing, elimination,
encroachment, end, eradication, euthanasia, evil, excision,
exclusion, execution, expense, extermination, extinction,
extirpation, failure, fall, flow of blood, forfeit, forfeiture,
genocide, gore, grievance, harm, havoc, hiding, hobbling,
holocaust, hurt, hurting, ill, immolation, impairment,
incapacitation, infection, infringement, injury, inroad, kill,
killing, lambasting, lapidation, lathering, laying waste, licking,
liquidation, loser, losing, losing streak, loss, maiming,
martyrdom, martyrization, massacre, mastery, mayhem, mercy killing,
mischief, murder, mutilation, outrage, overcoming, overthrow,
overturn, perdition, poison, poisoning, pollution, privation,
putting away, quietus, ravagement, razing, rescission,
ritual killing, ritual murder, robbery, ruin, ruination, ruining,
ruinousness, sabotage, sacrifice, scathe, shooting, sickening,
slaughter, slaying, smash, spoiling, spoliation, stoning,
stripping, subdual, subduing, subjugation, taking away,
taking of life, tearing down, termination, the worst, thrashing,
total loss, toxin, trimming, trouncing, undoing, vanquishment,
venom, vexation, weakening, whipping, wiping out, woe, wrecking,
wrong
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Destruction
in Job 26:6, 28:22 (Heb. abaddon) is sheol, the realm of the
dead.