destruct
Americanadjective
noun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
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to destroy (one's own missile or rocket) for safety
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(intr) (of a missile or rocket) to be destroyed, for safety, by those controlling it; self-destruct
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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destructsimple
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destructssimple
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have destructedperfect
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has destructedperfect
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am destructingprogressive
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are destructingprogressive
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is destructingprogressive
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have been destructingperfect progressive
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has been destructingperfect progressive
Past
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destructedsimple
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had destructedperfect
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was destructingprogressive
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were destructingprogressive
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had been destructingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of destruct
First recorded in 1630–40; back formation from destruction
Explanation
When you destruct something, you destroy or wreck it. A developer might buy an old building in order to destruct it and build a shiny new one in its place. The verb destruct isn't as common as its relatives, destructive, destruction, and self-destruct, but you can use it to mean "wipe out" or "destroy." Your doctor might worry that your lack of sleep and frequent soda drinking will destruct your health, and a kindergartner will probably wail in frustration if her little brother destructs her Lego creation. Destruct comes from destruction, most likely as 1950's US defense industry jargon.
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.
See Examples For:
By combining their results, researchers can better study neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts, offering insight into why the universe did not self destruct immediately after the Big Bang.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 3, 2026
"It would be wrong now to say we want to react and destruct. This is not in the team. We are not a team that wants to destruct."
From BBC ● Jul. 12, 2025
“Rodeo Drive is among the most desirable streets in the world, which means we’re one of the biggest targets. What we do not welcome is people with ill intentions, who are here to destruct property.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2020
The sooner more high school kids realize they are better off without high schools the better so to force the system to creatively destruct.
From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2017
He was actually risking his life—or so he believed—to prove that the child could not destruct a human being.
From When I Grow Up by Lowe, Richard E.
But note evil always self- destructs just not in a timely way.
From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2018
If Palin was thinking back on her own political implosions, she may be misidentifying the “self” who destructs.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2016
"This country could have self- destructed a long time ago, except for the fact that the people who have been denied that American dream for so long still believe in it enough."
From Salon ● Dec. 10, 2022
The Council’s website listed these trips as “delegations to Afghanistan to promote their economy, which has been shattered and destructed in the last two decades of war”.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 13, 2018
Among other destabilizing factors is his grief, still fresh, after his young son has died and his marriage self destructed.
From New York Times ● Jul. 26, 2018
And Washington put extreme pressure on the Cardinal, which continually self destructed.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 30, 2016
He didn't spare me, destructed me utterly; but speedily constructed me upon new lines, and told me a lot about Celtic difficulties and how to overcome them.
From The Bed-Book of Happiness by Begbie, Harold
Mr. Montañez Ortiz said destructing furniture was a way “to release a spirit as part of a reconciling.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
Young students have grubby fingers, and they’re prone to touching, spilling on, and generally destructing most papers they contact.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2019
But to understand the dynamic that can lead to a destructing hatred between brothers such as Chuck and Jimmy McGill of AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” it helps to read the actual story.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2017
He said that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. paid $535 million to settle SEC allegations that it created a self- destructing CDO for the benefit of a client, hedge-fund manager John Paulson.
From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 29, 2011
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.
