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
destroy, destructverb
do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of
"The fire destroyed the house"
destroy, ruinverb
destroy completely; damage irreparably
"You have ruined my car by pouring sugar in the tank!"; "The tears ruined her make-up"
demolish, destroyverb
defeat soundly
"The home team demolished the visitors"
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
destroyverb
To cause destruction.
Hooligans destroy unprovoked
destroyverb
To neutralize, undo a property or condition.
Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate
destroyverb
To put down or euthanize.
Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.
destroyverb
To defeat soundly.
destroyverb
To remove data.
The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.
Etymology: destroyen, from destruire,, from Classical destruo, from de- + struo.
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
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
destroy
The general definition of "destroy" is to cause extensive damage, ruin, or render something completely nonfunctional or unusable.
Webster Dictionary
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
Destroyverb
to ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume
Destroyverb
to put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill
Freebase
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
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, destructum—de, down, and struĕre, to build.]
Suggested Resources
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
Spoken Corpus Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'destroy' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #4472
Verbs Frequency
Rank popularity for the word 'destroy' in Verbs Frequency: #334
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of destroy in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of destroy in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7
Examples of destroy in a Sentence
Humans live best when each has a place to stand, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things and what he may achieve. Destroy the place and you destroy the person.
Humans live best when each has his place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person.
That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life he transcends himself as a creature. Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate.
I don't want to see us putting in a million soldiers, spend 10 years, a trillion dollars, trying to create a democracy where one hasn't existed, but send in troops, destroy their training centers, destroy their recruitment centers, destroy the area where they are looking to plan to attack us here and then get out.
We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy the economy.
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Translations for destroy
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
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"destroy." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. Web. 1 Oct. 2023. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/destroy>.
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