mindmap root((摧毁)) ruin suggests collapse and is applicable to whatever has given way or fallen apart through decay, corruption, neglect, or loss: the old house had fallen to ~. havoc suggests an agent that pillages, destroys, or ravages and the resulting confusion and disorder: the ~ of the earthquake. devastation implies a widespread laying waste, as by war or natural catastrophe, but it is also applicable to something that overwhelms an individual with comparable decisiveness: tried to overcome the ~ of losing a spouse. destruction suggests an utter undoing by or as if by demolition or annihilation: saw the rapid ~ of his entire life's work.