What does destroy mean?

Definitions for destroy
dɪˈstrɔɪde·stroy

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word destroy.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. destroy, destructverb

    do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of

    "The fire destroyed the house"

  2. destroy, ruinverb

    destroy completely; damage irreparably

    "You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up"

  3. demolish, destroyverb

    defeat soundly

    "The home team demolished the visitors"

  4. destroy, put downverb

    put (an animal) to death

    "The customs agents destroyed the dog that was found to be rabid"; "the sick cat had to be put down"

Wiktionary

  1. destroyverb

    To cause destruction.

    Hooligans destroy unprovoked

  2. destroyverb

    To neutralize, undo a property or condition.

    Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate

  3. destroyverb

    To put down or euthanize.

    Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.

  4. destroyverb

    To defeat soundly.

  5. destroyverb

    To remove data.

    The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.

  6. Etymology: destroyen, from destruire,, from Classical destruo, from de- + struo.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To DESTROYverb

    Etymology: destruo, Latin; destruire, French.

    The lord will destroy this city. Gen. xix. 14.

    Solyman sent a great part of his army out of the main unto the island, which burnt and destroyed the country villages. Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

    A people, great and many, and tall as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them, and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead. Deutr. ii. 21.

    ’Tis safer to be that which we destroy,
    Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    The wise providence hath placed a certain antipathy between some animals and many insects, whereby they delight in their destruction, though they use them not as food; as the peacock destroys snakes and adders; the weasel, mice and rats; spiders, flies; and some sorts of flies destroy spiders. Matthew Hale.

    Do we not see that slothful, intemperate and incontinent persons destroy their bodies with diseases, their reputations with disgrace, and their faculties with want? Richard Bentley.

    There will be as many sovereigns as fathers: the mother too hath her title, which destroys the sovereignty of one supreme monarch. John Locke.

ChatGPT

  1. destroy

    The general definition of "destroy" is to cause extensive damage, ruin, or render something completely nonfunctional or unusable.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Destroyverb

    to unbuild; to pull or tear down; to separate virulently into its constituent parts; to break up the structure and organic existence of; to demolish

  2. Destroyverb

    to ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume

  3. Destroyverb

    to put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill

Wikidata

  1. Destroy

    Destroy! was an American crust punk band from Minneapolis from 1988 to 1994. Vocalist Felix Havoc founded Havoc Records in 1992 as a vehicle for Destroy!'s Burn this Racist System Down 7" EP.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Destroy

    de-stroy′, v.i. to unbuild or pull down: to overturn: to ruin: to put an end to:—pr.p. destroy′ing:—pa.p. destroyed′.—n. Destroy′er. [O. Fr. destruire (Fr. détruire)—L. destruĕre, destructumde, down, and struĕre, to build.]

Suggested Resources

  1. destroy

    Song lyrics by destroy -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by destroy on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'destroy' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4472

  2. Verbs Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'destroy' in Verbs Frequency: #334

How to pronounce destroy?

How to say destroy in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of destroy in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of destroy in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of destroy in a Sentence

  1. Thomas J. Watson:

    The toughest thing about the power of trust is that it's very difficult to build and very easy to destroy. The essence of trust building is to emphasize the similarities between you and the customer.

  2. Sarah Stein:

    I have never had an experience like that, but I knew that I had to speak for my people and for all people who white supremacists would wish to oppress or destroy altogether, i stood up to them for the same reason I'm standing against the scholarship at my university.

  3. Donald Trump:

    When you have the world looking at us and would like to destroy us as quickly as possible, I err on the side of security, and, so, you know, that's the way it is. That's the way I've been, and some people like that, frankly, and some people don't like that.

  4. anonymous:

    If at first you don't succeed, destroy all the evidence that you have tried.

  5. Marci Hamilton:

    It takes years to comprehend the trauma of child sex abuse, well into adulthood, to decide whether to move forward, what police do when they destroy rape kits, and other evidence of crimes against children before the statute of limitations has passed, is rob them of their full chance at justice.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

destroy#1#6266#10000

Translations for destroy

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

Get even more translations for destroy »

Translation

Find a translation for the destroy definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"destroy." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/destroy>.

Discuss these destroy definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for destroy? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    restricted to a particular condition of life
    A embark
    B depend
    C deny
    D obligate

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for destroy: