{
    "term": "destruction",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "the act of destroying something; the process of being destroyed",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "the destruction of the rainforests"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a tidal wave bringing **death and destruction** in its wake"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The central argument is that capitalism **sows the seeds of its own destruction** *(= creates the forces that destroy it)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "By doubling its prices, the industry sowed the seeds of its own destruction."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Children will quickly test their toys to destruction."
                },
                {
                    "text": "He gasped as he saw how much destruction she had wrought with the hammer."
                },
                {
                    "text": "They had miraculously survived the destruction of the spacecraft."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She witnessed the destruction of most of her work in a studio fire."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Some shopkeepers closed early to prevent the wholesale destruction of their property by the hooligans."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The earthquake caused loss of life and property destruction."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The tornado left a trail of destruction behind it."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Three of the paintings escaped destruction."
                },
                {
                    "text": "a war of mutual destruction"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the destruction brought about by war"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the environmental destruction caused by road building"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the threat of nuclear destruction which haunts the post-war world"
                },
                {
                    "text": "the wanton destruction of public property"
                },
                {
                    "text": "those who seek the destruction of our way of life"
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["complete", "total", "utter"],
                "verb + destruction": ["bring (about)", "cause", "lead to"],
                "phrases": [
                    "leave a trail of destruction",
                    "the seeds of destruction",
                    "test something to destruction"
                ]
            }
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈstrʌkʃn/",
                "audio": "de/destruction/destruction__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/dɪˈstrʌkʃn/",
                "audio": "de/destruction/destruction__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Latin destructio(n-), from the verb destruere, from de- (expressing reversal) + struere ‘build’."
}