destroy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
destroys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
destroyed,
past participle, past
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destroying
present participle
-
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.
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to render ineffective or useless; nullify; neutralize; invalidate.
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to defeat completely.
verb (used without object)
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destroys,
present (3rd person singular)
-
destroyed,
past participle, past
-
destroying
present participle
verb
-
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
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to kill or annihilate
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to crush, subdue, or defeat
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(intr) to be destructive or cause destruction
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
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predestroyverb (used with object)
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destroyableadjective
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half-destroyedadjective
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self-destroyedadjective
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self-destroyingadjective
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undestroyedadjective
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well-destroyedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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destroysimple
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destroyssimple
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have destroyedperfect
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has destroyedperfect
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am destroyingprogressive
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are destroyingprogressive
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is destroyingprogressive
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have been destroyingperfect progressive
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has been destroyingperfect progressive
Past
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destroyedsimple
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had destroyedperfect
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was destroyingprogressive
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were destroyingprogressive
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had been destroyingperfect progressive
Future
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”)
Explanation
When your little brother breaks your carefully constructed Lego village into its tiny parts, he destroys it. To destroy is to completely demolish. To destroy is the opposite of to construct or to build. When you destroy something, you cause destruction, when you build something, you are involved in its construction. In war, soldiers are sometimes sent on missions to search and destroy. This means their job is to find a target and completely take it out. Destroy doesn't have to be physical though. If you get an F in your math class, that could destroy your dream of going to an Ivy League university and too much criticism can destroy your self-esteem.
Vocabulary lists containing destroy
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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:
They work slightly differently, but both commandeer a cell’s recycling system to destroy proteins that normally drive the course of a disease.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
"This sounds theoretical and naive but you know you destroy nature at your peril and I think we see around the world the consequences of nature degradation," she said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026
They help destroy pathogens and trigger the early inflammatory response.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
And here’s where I counter that a movie about how algorithms destroy humanity has to have some credible humans in it, if only to illustrate its own point.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
BOTHA: Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to know what is or is not for the global good until someone actually teleports, which could, theoretically, destroy life as we know it.
From "The First State of Being" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Zoe nearly destroys Rushville to save herself, while John almost violates his principles to seize the ring from Hal, per the Guardians’ orders, and take out Zoe.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
The author’s careful research destroys many Victorian myths about the lives and fates of these women.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Under some conditions, the collision destroys Theia and creates a broad protolunar disk around Earth.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
Antigone loses her life and Creon, for all intents and purposes, destroys his own, suffering the deaths of his most cherished loved ones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Ritchie destroys all notions of that immediately He stands up and says, “Well, Marv?”
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
The emotional episodes saw the team build a new community centre and restore the Dale Youth Boxing Club, which was destroyed in the disaster.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
The second can happen much later, hundreds or even thousands of days after the star is initially destroyed.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
Around 180 homes were destroyed in the village of Le Porge, the hardest-hit community.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
After Nazi bombs destroyed the stairwell in the Shulevitzes’ apartment building in Warsaw, the only way to reach the ground floor was by crossing boards placed across collapsed parts of the staircase.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
If the bear could not be destroyed, all this would be lost.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Firearms, he says, “have no purpose other than destroying their targets.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Researchers investigated whether destroying fat cells could help address this problem.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
His government re-established its authority across the country and restored it to its proper function of defending life and property without destroying democracy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
At least 165 of the ships were bottom trawlers, a particularly destructive form of fishing that uses weighted nets that scrape the ocean floor, destroying virtually everything in their path.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
He could never return, but it troubled him to think that she was destroying a part of herself for his sake.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
