1. actively, a destroying, utter destruction: as, of vessels, Romans 9:22; τοῦ μύρου, waste, Mark 14:4 (in Matthew 26:8 without a genitive) (in Polybius 6, 59, 5 consumption, opposed to τήρησις); the putting of a man to death, Acts 25:16 Rec.; by metonymy, a destructive thing or opinion: in plural 2 Peter 2:2 Rec.; but the correct reading ἀσελγείαις was long ago adopted here.

2. passively, a perishing, ruin, destruction;

a. in general: τό ἀργύριον σου σύν σοι εἴη εἰς ἀπώλειαν, let thy money perish with thee, Acts 8:20; βυρθίζειν τινα εἰς ὄλεθρον καί ἀπώλειαν, with the included idea of misery, 1 Timothy 6:9; αἱρέσεις ἀπωλείας destructive opinions, 2 Peter 2:1; ἐπάγειν ἑαυτοῖς ἀπώλειαν, ibid. cf. 2 Peter 2:3.

b. in particular, the destruction which consists in the loss of eternal life, eternal misery, perdition, the lot of those excluded from the kingdom of God: Revelation 17:8, 11, cf. Revelation 19:20; Philippians 3:19; 2 Peter 3:16; opposed to ἡ περιποίησις τῆς ψυχῆς, Hebrews 10:39; to ἡ ζωή, Matthew 7:13; to σωτηρία, Philippians 1:28. ὁ υἱός τῆς ἀπωλείας, a man doomed to eternal misery (a Hebraism, see υἱός, 2): 2 Thessalonians 2:3 (of Antichrist); John 17:12 (of Judas, the traitor); ἡμέρα κρίσεως καί ἀπωλείας τῶν ἀσεβῶν, 2 Peter 3:7. (In secular authors from Polybius as above (but see Aristotle, probl. 17, 3, 2, vol. ii., p. 916{a}, 26; 29, 14, 10 ibid. 952^b, 26; Nicom. eth. 4, 1 ibid. 1120{a}, 2, etc.); often in the Sept. and O. T. Apocrypha.)