destroy

[dih-stroi]

See more synonyms for destroy on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

to engage in destruction.

Origin of destroy

1175–1225; Middle English destroyen < Old French destruire < Vulgar Latin dēstrūgere (unattested), for Latin dēstruere (dē- de- + struere “to pick up, build”)

Related formsde·stroy·a·ble, adjectivehalf-de·stroyed, adjectivepre·de·stroy, verb (used with object)self-de·stroyed, adjectiveself-de·stroy·ing, adjectiveun·de·stroyed, adjectivewell-de·stroyed, adjective

Can be confuseddecimate destroy (see usage note at decimate)

Synonyms for destroy

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1. smash, level, waste, ravage, devastate. 2. extirpate, annihilate, uproot.

Synonym study

1. 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.

Antonyms for destroy

1, 2. create.

Usage note

See decimate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for destroy

end, consume, wreck, dismantle, ruin, smash, shatter, damage, ravage, crush, impair, sabotage, kill, gut, maim, raze, eradicate, deface, desolate, slay

Examples from the Web for destroy

Contemporary Examples of destroy

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 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
Would 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
Anything 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
Whether or not beta-version wearables are your thing, some technology is just impossible to ignore (or destroy).
Why Every Home Needs a Drone This Holiday
Charlie Gilbert
December 8, 2014

Historical Examples of destroy

Nothing but the hand of man could destroy what he was destroying; but his hand shrank not, and it was done.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
It is a crime which, if persisted in, will destroy the Government itself.
United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches
Various
They want their own poor way, and destroy the work of their hands by the sound of their tongues.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
Some of us are only fit to destroy what is yet worse than ourselves.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
To treat a child wholly as an adult would be to mock and destroy it.
A Treatise on Parents and Children
George Bernard Shaw

British Dictionary definitions for destroy

destroy

verb (mainly tr)

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

Derived Formsdestroyable, adjective

Word Origin for destroy

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

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

Word Origin and History for destroy

early 13c., from Old French destruire (12c., Modern French détruire) "destroy, ravage, lay waste," from Vulgar Latin *destrugere (source of Italian distruggere), refashioned (influenced by destructus), from Latin destruere "tear down, demolish," literally "un-build," from de- "un-, down" (see de-) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)). Related: Destroyed; destroying.