destroy

[ dih-stroi ]

verb (used with object)

1. 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.

   Synonyms: devastate, ravage, waste, level, smash

   Antonyms: create

2. to put an end to; extinguish.

   Synonyms: uproot, annihilate, extirpate

   Antonyms: create

3. to kill; slay.
4. to render ineffective or useless; nullify; neutralize; invalidate.
5. to defeat completely.

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in destruction.

destroy

/ dɪˈstrɔɪ /

verb

1. to ruin; spoil; render useless
2. to tear down or demolish; break up; raze
3. to put an end to; do away with; extinguish
4. to kill or annihilate
5. to crush, subdue, or defeat
6. intr to be destructive or cause destruction

Derived Forms

• deˈstroyable, adjective

Other Words From

• de·stroya·ble adjective
• half-de·stroyed adjective
• prede·stroy verb (used with object)
• self-de·stroyed adjective
• self-de·stroying adjective
• unde·stroyed adjective
• well-de·stroyed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of destroy¹

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”)

Word History and Origins

Origin of destroy¹

C13: from Old French destruire, from Latin dēstruere to pull down, from de- + struere to pile up, build

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

The nova does not destroy the star, unlike a supernova, which marks a star’s death.

From Science News

In addition to leveling forests for crops, the Spanish plantation system also began to destroy biodiversity with imported cattle and replace mountains with mines.

From Washington Post

The eventual goal is to be able to 3D print bones directly into the cavity of a patient, for scenarios in which a certain portion of bone has been removed or destroyed.

From Singularity Hub 

He wants them destroyed lest some accident or malicious act unleash smallpox on the world again.

From Vox

It’s marketing’s mass conservation, with nothing created and nothing destroyed.

From Vox

But at the heart of this “Truther” conspiracy theory is the idea that “someone” wants to destroy Bill Cosby.

From The Daily Beast

“The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program,” the Times reported.

From The Daily Beast

Would he have been careful enough to destroy the odd pieces of jute you've left so messily about?

From The Daily Beast

Anything less will mean than we are only slightly better as a nation than those who want to destroy us.

From The Daily Beast

Instead we must show that America “is different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us.”

From The Daily Beast

O my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.

From Project Gutenberg

The cheerful hours of easy labor vary but do not destroy the pursuit of pleasure and of recreation.

From Project Gutenberg

They destroy ants and spiders and other creeping things, so that Alila's mother never kills them nor drives them away.

From Project Gutenberg

Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.

From Project Gutenberg

Yet the Clarion opposes sweating and tyranny and hypocrisy, and does its best to defeat and to destroy them.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• consume
• crush
• damage
• dismantle
• end
• eradicate
• gut
• impair
• kill
• maim
• ravage
• raze
• ruin
• sabotage
• shatter
• smash
• smash-up
• wipe out
• wreck