#162. [Nonproduction.] Destruction.-- N. {ant. 161} destruction; waste, dissolution, breaking up; diruption[obs], disruption; consumption; disorganization.
fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash; eboulement[French], smash, havoc, delabrement[French], debacle; break down, break up, fall apart; prostration; desolation, bouleversement[Fr], wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm; washout.
extinction, annihilation; destruction of life &c. 361; knock-down blow; doom, crack of doom.
destroying &c. v.; demolition, demolishment; overthrow, subversion, suppression; abolition &c. (abrogation) 756; biblioclasm[obs]; sacrifice; ravage, razzia[obs]; inactivation; incendiarism; revolution &c. 146; extirpation &c. (extraction) 301; beginning of the end, commencement de la fin[French], road to ruin; dilapidation &c. (deterioration) 659; sabotage.
V. be destroyed &c.; perish; fall to the ground; tumble, topple; go to pieces, fall to pieces; break up; crumble to dust; go to the dogs, go to the wall, go to smash, go to shivers, go to wreck, go to pot, go to wrack and ruin; go by the board, go all to smash; be all over, be all up, be all with; totter to its fall.
destroy; do away with, make away with; nullify; annual &c. 756; sacrifice, demolish; tear up; overturn, overthrow, overwhelm; upset, subvert, put an end to; seal the doom of, do in, do for, dish*, undo; break up, cut up; break down, cut down, pull down, mow down, blow down, beat down; suppress, quash, put down, do a job on; cut short, take off, blot out; dispel, dissipate, dissolve; consume.
smash, crash, quell, squash, squelch, crumple up, shatter, shiver; batter to pieces, tear to pieces, crush to pieces, cut to pieces, shake to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces; laniate[obs]; nip; tear to rags, tear to tatters; crush to atoms, knock to atoms; ruin; strike out; throw over, knock down over; fell, sink, swamp, scuttle, wreck, shipwreck, engulf, ingulf[obs], submerge; lay in ashes, lay in ruins; sweep away, erase, wipe out, expunge, raze; level with the dust, level with the ground; waste; atomize, vaporize.
deal destruction, desolate, devastate, lay waste, ravage gut; disorganize; dismantle &c. (render useless) 645; devour, swallow up, sap, mine, blast, bomb, blow to smithereens, drop the big one, confound; exterminate, extinguish, quench, annihilate; snuff out, put out, stamp out, trample out; lay in the dust, trample in the dust; prostrate; tread under foot; crush under foot, trample under foot; lay the ax to the root of; make short work of, make clean sweep of, make mincemeat of; cut up root and branch, chop into pieces, cut into ribbons; fling to the winds, scatter to the winds; throw overboard; strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up, ravage with fire and sword; cast to the dogs; eradicate &c. 301.
Adj. destroyed &c. v.; perishing &c. v.; trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall; in course of destruction &c. n.; extinct.
all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing.
destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating; incendiary, deletory|; destroying &c. n. suicidal; deadly &c. (killing) 361.
Adv. with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer.
Phr. delenda est Carthago[Lat]; dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit[Lat]; ecrasez l'infame [Fr][Voltaire].