1. destruction(n = noun.act) devastation - the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists;
is a kind of conclusion, ending, termination
has particulars: disaster, kill, laying waste, ruin, ruination, ruining, wrecking, demolishing, leveling, razing, tearing down, annihilation, obliteration, decimation, self-destruction, neutralisation, neutralization, sabotage, extermination, liquidation, holocaust, demolition, spoliation, hooliganism, malicious mischief, vandalism
Derived forms verb destroy2, verb destroy1
2. destruction(n = noun.event) demolition, wipeout - an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something;
is a kind of conclusion, ending, finish
has particulars: annihilation, disintegration, eradication, obliteration, depredation, ravage, razing, wrecking, ruin, ruination, rack, wrack
Derived form verb destroy2
3. destruction(n = noun.state) death, end - a final state; "he came to a bad end"; "the so-called glorious experiment came to an inglorious end"
is a kind of state
destruction, n.
1 the act or an instance of destroying; the process of being destroyed.
2 a cause of ruin; something that destroys (greed was their destruction).
Etymology:
ME f. OF f. L destructio -onis (as DESTROY)
N revolution, bouleversement, subversion, break up, destruction, sudden change, radical change, sweeping organic change, change of state, phase change, quantum leap, quantum jump, clean sweep, coup d'etat, counter revolution, jump, leap, plunge, jerk, start, transilience, explosion, spasm, convulsion, throe, revulsion, storm, earthquake, cataclysm, legerdemain, unrecognizable, revolutionary.
N destruction, waste, dissolution, breaking up, diruption, disruption, consumption, disorganization, fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash, eboulement, smash, havoc, delabrement, debacle, break down, break up, fall apart, prostration, desolation, bouleversement, wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm, washout, extinction, annihilation, destruction of life, knock-down blow, doom, crack of doom, destroying, demolition, demolishment, overthrow, subversion, suppression, abolition, biblioclasm, sacrifice, ravage, razzia, inactivation, incendiarism, revolution, extirpation, beginning of the end, commencement de la fin, road to ruin, dilapidation, sabotage, destroyed, perishing, trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall, in course of destruction, extinct, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing, destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating, incendiary, deletory, destroying, suicidal, deadly, with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer, delenda est Carthago, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, ecrasez l'infame.