destruction

n.

1. The act of destroying

   demolition, demolishing, ruin, ruining, wrecking, tearing down, razing, leveling, annihilation, devastation, holocaust, eradication, obliteration, slaying, slaughter, carnage, liquidation, extirpation, overthrow, subversion, extermination, elimination, ravaging, consumption, abolition, murder, assassination, killing, disruption, bombardment, burning, dynamiting, laying waste, tearing apart, disintegration, extinction, ravagement, wreckage, subjugation, despoiling, depredation, dissolution, butchery, sabotage, subverting, ravaging, pillaging, plundering, despoliation, sacking, vandalism, subjugation, crushing, dissolving, invalidating, extinguishing, overthrowing, collision, crashing, falling, felling, dismantling, gutting, defacing, shattering, smashing, trampling, knocking down, stamping out, wiping out, sack, rack and ruin, crack of doom*; see also carnage, wreck 1.

   Antonyms production*, formation*, erection. *

2. The condition after destruction

   ruin, waste, ashes, wreck, annihilation, devastation, havoc, vestiges, desolation, ruins, overthrow, decay, dilapidation, disintegration, loss, bane, blight, remains, remnants, prostration, injury, impairment, ravage, downfall, end, bankruptcy, starvation, plague, shipwreck, dissolution, removal, sacrifice, disorganization, immolation; see also damage 2.

   Antonyms restoration*, renovation*, renewal.

destruction implies annihilation or demolition, as by fire, explosion, flood, etc. the destruction of the village in an air raid; ruin implies a state of decay, disintegration, etc. especially through such natural processes as age and weather the barn is in a state of ruin; havoc suggests total destruction or devastation, as following an earthquake or hurricane the storm wreaked havoc along the coast; dilapidation implies a state of ruin or shabbiness resulting from neglect the dilapidation of a deserted house