destructive
Americanadjective
-
tending to destroy; causing destruction or much damage (often followed by of orto ).
a very destructive windstorm.
- Synonyms:
- deleterious, ruinous
- Antonyms:
- creative
-
tending to overthrow, disprove, or discredit (constructive ).
destructive criticism.
- Synonyms:
- negative, adverse, unfavorable
- Antonyms:
- constructive
adjective
-
causing or tending to cause the destruction (of)
-
intended to disprove or discredit, esp without positive suggestions or help; negative Compare constructive
destructive criticism
Other Word Forms
- destructively adverb
- destructiveness noun
- destructivity noun
- interdestructive adjective
- interdestructively adverb
- interdestructiveness noun
- nondestructive adjective
- nondestructively adverb
- nondestructiveness noun
- overdestructive adjective
- overdestructively adverb
- overdestructiveness noun
- semidestructive adjective
- undestructive adjective
- undestructively adverb
- undestructiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of destructive
First recorded in 1480–90; from Middle French, from Late Latin dēstructīvus, from Latin dēstruct(us) “demolished, torn down” ( destruction ) + -īvus -ive
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.
Whether the attack was one carried out by traditional military assets or through some other means, such as a destructive cyber operation or a covert action led by the Central Intelligence Agency, is also uncertain.
Is fire management the unintended cause of destructive crown fires?
From Los Angeles Times
On the opposite coast, Southern California faced an even more destructive threat.
From Salon
But Beijing worries this isn’t sustainable and frets about deflationary and destructive price competition as companies try to dump at home any goods they can’t sell abroad.
“There’s always a little bit of low fire going on during quiet moments, but then you get fire that becomes much more destructive whenever there’s an attack sequence.”
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.
