self-destructive
Americanadjective
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harmful, injurious, or destructive to oneself.
His constant arguing with the boss shows he's a self-destructive person.
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reflecting or exhibiting suicidal desires or drives.
Careless driving may be a self-destructive tendency.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-destructive
First recorded in 1645–55
Explanation
Behavior that harms you physically, or puts you in physical danger, is self-destructive — like riding behind a city bus on your skateboard or living on nothing but potato chips and Coke. If you act in a way that could hurt you, your actions are self-destructive. Not getting enough sleep night after night can be self-destructive. Other self-destructive actions are dangerous in a different way. It's self-destructive for someone to spend their paycheck gambling at a casino, or for an office worker to steal money from the company they work for. Destructive is rooted in the Latin destruere, "demolish," or literally "un-build."
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.
Rodrigo's as likely to reveal her ugly side – jealousy, obsession, self-destructive decision making – as she is to rant about her feckless exes.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
Indeed, it can serve as a trap for our own self-destructive behavior.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
And what he sees, Page argues, is our own reflection — humanity, in all its fractured and flailing self-destructive foolishness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
Mr. Trump seems to recognize it is self-destructive to train these students and then send them back to India or China instead of building firms here.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
A folded dollar bill holding down the switch, stopping the alarm from blaring and letting everyone in the hospital know some crazy guy with cystic fibrosis and self-destructive tendencies is hanging out on the roof.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
