Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases by Peter Mark Roget

161} destruction; waste, dissolution, breaking up; diruption†, disruption; consumption; disorganization. fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash; eboulement [Fr.], smash, havoc, delabrement [Fr.], 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†; sacrifice; ravage, razzia†; inactivation; incendiarism; revolution &c 146; extirpation &c (extraction) 301; beginning of the end, commencement de la fin [Fr.], 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 [Slang], 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†; 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†, 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 [Voltaire].