tearing down vs destruction

tearing down and destruction both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
tearing down	Yes	No	No	No
destruction	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, destruction is a hypernym of tearing down; that is, destruction is a word with a broader meaning than tearing down:

tearing down: complete destruction of a building
destruction: the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists

Other hypernyms of tearing down include devastation.

tearing down (noun)	destruction (noun)
complete destruction of a building	the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists
	an event that completely destroys something
	a final state