destructor

[ dih-struhk-ter ]

/ dɪˈstrʌk tər /

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noun

British. a furnace for the burning of refuse; incinerator.

Rocketry. a destruct mechanism or device for destroying an off-course airborne missile or launch vehicle.

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Origin of destructor

1685–95; <Late Latin dēstructor, equivalent to Latin dēstruc- variant stem of dēstruere (see destruction) + -tor-tor

Words nearby destructor

destructive, destructive competition, destructive distillation, destructive interference, destructo, destructor, desuetude, desulfur, desulfurate, desulfurize, desulphurize

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use destructor in a sentence

The municipal garbage plant (destructor) collects and reduces to fertilizer 100 tons of garbage per day.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5|Various
Sawkins was instructed to take a truck to the house and get the bedding and take it to the town Refuse Destructor to be destroyed.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists|Robert Tressell
These hoppers are in the middle of the width of the destructor, and each communicates with a cell on each side of it.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882|Various
The only thing then is to add a gas refuse destructor to your apparatus.
The Labour-saving House|Dorothy Constance Bayliff Peel

He said he had been told to take them to the Destructor, and he was going to do so.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists|Robert Tressell

British Dictionary definitions for destructor

destructor

/ (dɪˈstrʌktə) /

noun

a furnace or incinerator for the disposal of refuse, esp one that uses the resulting heat to generate power

a device used to blow up a dangerously defective missile or rocket after launching

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