- destruction
- nounADJECTIVE▪ complete, total, utter, wholesale▪ large-scale, mass, massive, widespread▪
modern weapons of mass destruction
▪ rapid▪ imminent▪ final, ultimate▪ systematic▪ wanton▪the wanton destruction of public property
▪ ecological, environmental, forest, habitat, ozone▪the environmental destruction caused by road building
▪ property▪The earthquake caused loss of life and property destruction.
▪ nuclear▪the threat of nuclear destruction which haunts the post-war world
▪ physical▪ deliberate, intentional▪ mutual▪a war of mutual destruction
VERB + DESTRUCTION▪ bring (about), cause, lead to, result in, wreak (formal)▪the destruction brought about by war
▪He gasped as he saw how much destruction she had wrought with the hammer.
▪ avoid, prevent, stop▪Some shopkeepers closed early to prevent the wholesale destruction of their property by the hooligans.
▪ escape, survive▪Three of the paintings escaped destruction.
▪He had miraculously survived the destruction of the spacecraft.
▪ see, watch, witness▪He witnessed the destruction of most of his work in a studio fire.
▪ seek▪those who seek the destruction of our way of life
PHRASES▪ leave a trail of destruction▪The tornado left a trail of destruction behind it.
▪ the seeds of destruction▪By doubling its prices, the industry sowed the seeds of its own destruction.
▪ test sth to destruction (BrE)▪Children will quickly test their toys to destruction.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
