perdition means eternal damnation. It carries an Arena rating of 1500, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, perdition ranks #2,308 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,317 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,592 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #2,678 of 14,410 for Most Ponderous Words.
perdition is pronounced /pɜː(ɹ)ˈdɪ.ʃən/.
Why “perdition” is a great word
A state of utter spiritual destruction and eternal ruin, the absolute and irrevocable loss of salvation. From Middle English *perdicioun*, from Old French *perdiciun*, from Late Latin *perditio* ("destruction, ruin"), from Latin *perdo* ("to destroy, to lose"). Unlike "damnation," which specifically denotes the sentence of divine judgment, or "hell," the abode of the punished, perdition is the resulting condition itself—the totality of the loss. It is the coin slipped through a storm grate, the name erased from a family Bible, the ship that sailed toward the wrong star and kept sailing; it is less a place one is sent, and more a state of having been entirely unmade.
Etymology
From Middle English perdicioun, from Old French perdiciun, from Late Latin perditio, from Latin perdo (“to destroy, to lose”).
noun
- Eternal damnation.“I son ov perdition / From sheer nothingness transgressed”
- Hell.
- Absolute ruin; downfall.“Their decision to buy stocks just before the crisis led to their perdition.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.