accident an event in which a vehicle is damaged and often someone is hurt:
Her father died in a car accident. Hugh had an accident on his way to work.crash a serious accident in which a vehicle hits something else:
Rees-Jones was the only person to survive the crash. a car/plane/train crash He was killed in a plane crash.collision an accident in which two or more cars, trains etc hit each other:
His car was involved in a collision with a train. ⇒
a head-on collision (=between vehicles that are driving towards each other):
The actor was killed in a head-on collision while driving his new sports car.disaster a serious accident involving a train, plane, or boat, in which a lot of people are killed or injured:
It was Britain’s worst air disaster.wreck American English an accident in which a car or train is badly damaged:
Ben nearly died in a car wreck.pile-up an accident that involves several cars or trucks:
The pile-up happened in thick fog. There was a 12-car pile-up on the motorway.fender-bender American English informal, prang British English informal a car accident in which little damage is done:
Atkinson was involved in a fender-bender in the hotel parking lot. At 15, he borrowed his parents’ car and had a prang. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲
destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:
The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city. The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:
Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city. The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:
The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times. The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:
The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:
The toilets had been wrecked by vandals. They just wrecked the place.trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:
Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:
The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:
The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:
Fungus may ruin the crop. The new houses will ruin the view.accident an event in which a vehicle is damaged and often someone is hurt:
Her father died in a car accident. Hugh had an accident on his way to work.crash a serious accident in which a vehicle hits something else:
Rees-Jones was the only person to survive the crash. a car/plane/train crash He was killed in a plane crash.collision an accident in which two or more cars, trains etc hit each other:
His car was involved in a collision with a train. ⇒
a head-on collision (=between vehicles that are driving towards each other):
The actor was killed in a head-on collision while driving his new sports car.disaster a serious accident involving a train, plane, or boat, in which a lot of people are killed or injured:
It was Britain’s worst air disaster.pile-up an accident that involves several cars or trucks:
The pile-up happened in thick fog. There was a 12-car pile-up on the motorway.fender-bender American English informal, prang British English informal a car accident in which little damage is done:
Atkinson was involved in a fender-bender in the hotel parking lot. At 15, he borrowed his parents’ car and had a prang. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲