destroy
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.
self-destroying
-
a word derived from
destroy.
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.
Every time a new oil field is discovered, the press cheers: “Hooray, there is more fuel for the self-destroying machines!”
From Salon ● May 21, 2012
It seemed that the complex urban understanding was going through another periodic fit, obeying the logic of a self-destroying machine by Sculptor Jean Tinguely.
From Time Magazine Archive
For him the whale came to represent whatever it is that drives men to self-destroying quests.
From Time Magazine Archive
Science is the one voice that condemns in these days the self-destroying madness of a world set on seeking to live habitually in the lower life.
From Painted Windows Studies in Religious Personality by Harold Begbie
Man may not purify himself by blind self-destroying zeal, but by faithful and humble submissiveness, by silent fulfilment of duty, by incessant inward struggles.
From The Hour Will Come: Volumes I and II A Tale of an Alpine Cloister by Wilhelmine von Hillern
