This noun denotes utter ruin or overthrow, often with moral or cosmic implications. Paul warns Timothy that quarreling over words leads 'to the ruin (καταστροφῇ) of the hearers' (2 Timothy 2:14), where verbal disputes cause spiritual destruction rather than edification. Peter recalls how God 'condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction (καταστροφῇ), reducing them to ashes' as an example to the ungodly (2 Peter 2:6). The term evokes total collapse—whether of faith (2 Timothy) or of cities (2 Peter)—standing as a warning of the consequences of sin and folly.