toshend means to ruin completely; destroy. It carries an Arena rating of 1479, earned across 96 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, toshend ranks #2,326 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,782 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,035 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #3,134 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “toshend” is a great word
TOSHEND — [Verb] To ruin or destroy utterly, beyond recovery or recognition. From Middle English toshenden, from Old English tōsċendan ("to destroy"), equivalent to the intensive prefix to- + shend ("to disgrace, destroy"). Unlike "damage," which implies harm that may be partial and reparable, or "spoil," which suggests a marring of quality but not dissolution, toshend is the terminal verb for unmaking. It is the library put to the torch, every vellum page curling into smoke and ash; the acid thrown on a portrait, the features dissolving into a meaningless smear; the once-fruitful field salted so nothing will ever grow. It names the quiet, absolute zero that remains after the fire has consumed everything worth burning.
Etymology
From Middle English toshenden, from Old English tōsċendan (“to destroy”), equivalent to to- + shend.
verb
- To ruin completely; destroy.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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