destruction
noun/dɪˈstrʌkʃn/
/dɪˈstrʌkʃn/
[uncountable]Word Family
- destroy verb
- destroyer noun
- destruction noun
- destructive adjective
- indestructible adjective
- the act of destroying something; the process of being destroyed
- the destruction of the rainforests
- a tidal wave bringing death and destruction in its wake
- The central argument is that capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction (= creates the forces that destroy it).
Extra Examples- By doubling its prices, the industry sowed the seeds of its own destruction.
- Children will quickly test their toys to destruction.
- He gasped as he saw how much destruction she had wrought with the hammer.
- They had miraculously survived the destruction of the spacecraft.
- She witnessed the destruction of most of her work in a studio fire.
- Some shopkeepers closed early to prevent the wholesale destruction of their property by the hooligans.
- The earthquake caused loss of life and property destruction.
- The tornado left a trail of destruction behind it.
- Three of the paintings escaped destruction.
- a war of mutual destruction
- the destruction brought about by war
- the environmental destruction caused by road building
- the threat of nuclear destruction which haunts the post-war world
- the wanton destruction of public property
- those who seek the destruction of our way of life
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- complete
- total
- utter
- …
- bring (about)
- cause
- lead to
- …
- leave a trail of destruction
- the seeds of destruction
- test something to destruction
- …
Word OriginMiddle English: from Latin destructio(n-), from the verb destruere, from de- (expressing reversal) + struere ‘build’.Definitions on the go
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destruction