Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The act or process of destroying.
- noun The condition of having been destroyed.
- noun The cause or means of destroying.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of destroying; demolition; a pulling down, as of a building; subversion or overthrow, as of a government or a principle; ruin, as of a town, a crop, reputation, virtue, etc.; annihilation or deprivation of existence, as of a man or a forest.
- noun The state of being destroyed; ruin.
- noun Cause of destruction; a consuming plague or ruinous infliction; a destroyer.
- noun Synonyms and Overthrow, desolation, extirpation, eradication, extermination, extinction, devastation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act of destroying; a tearing down; a bringing to naught; subversion; demolition; ruin; slaying; devastation.
- noun The state of being destroyed, demolished, ruined, slain, or devastated.
- noun A destroying agency; a cause of ruin or of devastation; a destroyer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The act of
destroying . - noun The results of a
destructive event.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something
- noun the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
- noun a final state
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Pache, whose home was razed 10 times, jokes that the destruction is the only government service he can count on.
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This destruction is the reason silver is becoming scarce.
Archive 2006-10-15 Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2006
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This destruction is the reason silver is becoming scarce.
Silver Fundamentals Canadian silver bug/Green Assassin Brigade 2006
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Little hope seems to be offered that this destruction is anything other than complete, an effect implied in part by a shift in the tone of the free indirect discourse which has established the narrative viewpoint of Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Hope Begins in the Dark: Re-reading Nineteen Eighty-Four 2005
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They say embryonic stem cell research has not proven anything yet, and taxpayers should not be forced to fund what they call the destruction of human embryos.
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“Is that what you call the destruction of the entire Earth?”
MILLENNIUM GARFIELD REEVES-STEVENS JUDITH 2000
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“Is that what you call the destruction of the entire Earth?”
THE WAR OF THE PROPHETS JUDITH REEVES-STEVENS GARFIELD REEVES-STEVENS 2000
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“Is that what you call the destruction of the entire Earth?”
MILLENNIUM GARFIELD REEVES-STEVENS JUDITH 2000
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“Is that what you call the destruction of the entire Earth?”
MILLENNIUM GARFIELD REEVES-STEVENS JUDITH 2000
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If nuclear energy to date has found its application in destruction, that is something for which the scientist can not ask to be wholly excused from an adverse judgment; but he has a right to say that he has made available to us, to the citizens, to the politicians, a knowledge of the powers of nature which can be applied maleficently, beneficently, through temporarily destructive methods, or beneficently through wholly, constructive methods, at choice.
oroboros commented on the word destruction
destRUctIoN
April 23, 2008