destroy
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.
to put an end to; extinguish.
to kill; slay.
to render ineffective or useless; nullify; neutralize; invalidate.
to defeat completely.
to engage in destruction.
Origin of destroy
1synonym study For destroy
word story For destroy
Other words for destroy
Opposites for destroy
Other words from destroy
- 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
Words that may be confused with destroy
Words Nearby destroy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use destroy in a sentence
The nova does not destroy the star, unlike a supernova, which marks a star’s death.
The number of Milky Way nova explosions per year has been pinned down | Ken Croswell | February 12, 2021 | Science NewsIn addition to leveling forests for crops, the Spanish plantation system also began to destroy biodiversity with imported cattle and replace mountains with mines.
The problem of environmental racism in Mexico today is rooted in history | Jayson Porter | February 11, 2021 | Washington PostThe 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.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through February 6) | Singularity Hub Staff | February 6, 2021 | Singularity HubHe wants them destroyed lest some accident or malicious act unleash smallpox on the world again.
Smallpox used to kill millions of people every year. Here’s how humans beat it. | Kelsey Piper | February 5, 2021 | VoxIt’s marketing’s mass conservation, with nothing created and nothing destroyed.
Celebrities have always done endorsements. Now they sell their fast food orders. | Jameson Rich | February 5, 2021 | Vox
But at the heart of this “Truther” conspiracy theory is the idea that “someone” wants to destroy Bill Cosby.
Phylicia Rashad and the Cult of Cosby Truthers | Stereo Williams | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST“The United States had gone to war declaring it must destroy an active weapons of mass destruction program,” the Times reported.
Political Memes That Absolutely Must Die in 2015 | Asawin Suebsaeng | January 1, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTWould he have been careful enough to destroy the odd pieces of jute you've left so messily about?
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days | David Freeman | December 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAnything less will mean than we are only slightly better as a nation than those who want to destroy us.
Why the Muslim World Isn’t Flipping Out Over the CIA Torture Report | Dean Obeidallah | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTInstead we must show that America “is different, stronger, and better than those who would destroy us.”
Why the Muslim World Isn’t Flipping Out Over the CIA Torture Report | Dean Obeidallah | December 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTO my people, they that call thee blessed, the same deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousThe cheerful hours of easy labor vary but do not destroy the pursuit of pleasure and of recreation.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockThey destroy ants and spiders and other creeping things, so that Alila's mother never kills them nor drives them away.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin | Mary Hazelton WadeThy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version | VariousYet the Clarion opposes sweating and tyranny and hypocrisy, and does its best to defeat and to destroy them.
God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
British Dictionary definitions for destroy
/ (dɪˈstrɔɪ) /
to ruin; spoil; render useless
to tear down or demolish; break up; raze
to put an end to; do away with; extinguish
to kill or annihilate
to crush, subdue, or defeat
(intr) to be destructive or cause destruction
Origin of destroy
1Derived forms of destroy
- destroyable, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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