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Perdition is a word that gives a darn, and then some. It was borrowed into English in the 14th century from the Anglo-French noun perdiciun and ultimately comes from the Latin verb perdere, meaning “to destroy.” Among the earliest meanings of perdition was, appropriately, “utter destruction,” as when Shakespeare wrote of the “perdition of the Turkish fleet” in Othello. This sense, while itself not utterly destroyed, doesn’t see much use anymore; perdition is today used almost exclusively for eternal damnation or the place where such destruction of the soul occurs.
Examples of perdition in a Sentence
Literary Hub,
25 June 2026
Sloth, after all, is a deadly sin, and it was often seen as the first step on the slippery slope to perdition.
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JSTOR Daily,
31 Oct. 2025
California policymakers continue to make laws and allow regulators to contrive rules that make California a land of perdition rather than destination for enterprise because they have been captured by left-of-center interests.
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Kerry Jackson,
Oc Register,
13 Sep. 2025
Yet, the measure was promptly shuffled into the House Rules Committee, where it could be buried to perdition.
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Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
11 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for perdition
Cite this Entry
“Perdition.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perdition. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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perdition
noun
