destroy
Americanverb (used with object)
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to reduce (an object) to useless fragments, a useless form, or remains, as by rending, burning, or dissolving; injure beyond repair or renewal; demolish; ruin; annihilate.
- Antonyms:
- create
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to put an end to; extinguish.
- Synonyms:
- uproot, annihilate, extirpate
- Antonyms:
- create
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to kill; slay.
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to render ineffective or useless; nullify; neutralize; invalidate.
-
to defeat completely.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to ruin; spoil; render useless
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to tear down or demolish; break up; raze
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to put an end to; do away with; extinguish
-
to kill or annihilate
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to crush, subdue, or defeat
-
(intr) to be destructive or cause destruction
Related Words
Destroy, demolish, raze imply reducing a thing to uselessness. To destroy is to reduce something to nothingness or to take away its powers and functions so that restoration is impossible: Fire destroys a building. Disease destroys tissues. To demolish is to destroy something organized or structured: to demolish a machine. To raze is to level down to the ground: to raze a fortress.
Other Word Forms
- destroyable adjective
- half-destroyed adjective
- predestroy verb (used with object)
- self-destroyed adjective
- self-destroying adjective
- undestroyed adjective
- well-destroyed adjective
Etymology
Origin of destroy
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, from Vulgar Latin dēstrūgere (unattested), for Latin dēstruere ( dē- de- + struere “to pick up, build”)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A judge has struck down the latest effort by the city of Los Angeles to tow and destroy broken down recreational vehicles, handing a legal victory to a group of Westside homeless advocates.
From Los Angeles Times
"We don't have work anymore. The farmland is all destroyed," she added.
From Barron's
The Jan. 7, 2025 fire destroyed thousands of homes, including the majority of homes in west Altadena, a historically Black community.
From Los Angeles Times
"So in 20 years of being buried... it is likely there's an awful lot of it that has been destroyed."
From BBC
The firestorm ravaged Pacific Palisades and Altadena, killing 31, destroying more than 16,000 structures and contaminating others with toxins and heavy metals.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
