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.
-
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.
“When someone sets fires that endanger lives and destroy a community’s sense of safety, my office will pursue the most serious charges available and seek justice for the victims,” Los Angeles County Dist.
From Los Angeles Times
At the end of March, The Times found, just under 3,400 applications to rebuild destroyed residences had been filed.
From Los Angeles Times
A building was destroyed on Tuesday in Ghobeiry on the road to the airport following an evacuation order.
From BBC
While the canning process preserved the outer structure of the worms, it destroyed the internal features scientists would need to identify specific species.
From Science Daily
In 1985, Nepal’s Dig Tsho lake, in the Everest region, burst after part of a hanging glacier fell into it, destroying houses and infrastructure below.
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.
