Library / English Dictionary

DESTROY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defeat soundly and humiliatingly

Example:

The home team demolished the visitors

Synonyms:

demolish; destroy

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "destroy" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "destroy"):

smash (overthrow or destroy (something considered evil or harmful))

swallow (engulf and destroy)

cut to ribbons (defeat totally)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to destroy his opponent

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put (an animal) to death

Example:

the sick cat had to be put down

Synonyms:

destroy; put down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "destroy" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Destroy completely; damage irreparably

Example:

The tears ruined her make-up

Synonyms:

destroy; ruin

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "destroy"):

wash out (wear or destroy by the force of water)

kick down; kick in (open violently)

bust up; wrack; wreck (smash or break forcefully)

shipwreck (destroy a ship)

consume (destroy completely)

explode (destroy by exploding)

despoil; plunder; rape; spoil; violate (destroy and strip of its possession)

devour (destroy completely)

get (overcome or destroy)

subvert (destroy completely)

do a job on (destroy completely or make ugly or useless)

vandalise; vandalize (destroy wantonly, as through acts of vandalism)

break; bust (ruin completely)

break (find a flaw in)

harry; ravage (make a pillaging or destructive raid on (a place), as in wartimes)

desolate; devastate; lay waste to; ravage; scourge; waste (cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly)

burn; burn down; fire (destroy by fire)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

destroyer (a small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship)

destroyer (a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to)

destructible (easily destroyed)

destruction (the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists)

destruction (an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of

Example:

The fire destroyed the house

Synonyms:

destroy; destruct

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "destroy" is one way to...):

undo; unmake (deprive of certain characteristics)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "destroy"):

demyelinate (destroy the myelin sheath of)

dilapidate (bring into a condition of decay or partial ruin by neglect or misuse)

eradicate; exterminate; extirpate; root out; uproot (destroy completely, as if down to the roots)

dismantle; level; pull down; rase; raze; take down; tear down (tear down so as to make flat with the ground)

break apart; break up; disassemble; dismantle; take apart (take apart into its constituent pieces)

demolish (ruin or destroy)

demolish; pulverise; pulverize (destroy completely)

interdict (destroy by firepower, such as an enemy's line of communication)

sweep away; wipe out (eliminate completely and without a trace)

fracture (interrupt, break, or destroy)

end (put an end to)

destruct (destroy (one's own missile or rocket))

self-destroy; self-destruct (do away with oneself or itself)

do away with; eliminate; extinguish; get rid of (terminate, end, or take out)

kill (destroy a vitally essential quality of or in)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

destroyer (a small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship)

destroyer (a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to)

destructible (easily destroyed)

destruction (the termination of something by causing so much damage to it that it cannot be repaired or no longer exists)

destructive (causing destruction or much damage)

Credits

 Context examples: 

They say there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris circling the Earth that have the potential to damage or destroy satellites.

(Australia Developing Lasers to Track, Destroy Space Junk, VOA)

We found the brass box there, although its contents had been destroyed.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A method of replacing blood-forming cells destroyed by cancer treatment.

(Peripheral blood stem cell transplant, NCI Dictionary)

I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

There is a poison in my blood, in my soul, which may destroy me; which must destroy me, unless some relief comes to us.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

SiRNA molecules can do just that – binding to specific gene messenger molecules and destroying them before they can tell the cell to produce a particular protein.

(Nanoparticles used to transport anti-cancer agent to cells, University of Cambridge)

But take care; for she is wicked and fierce, and may not allow you to destroy her.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

APOE binding to HSPG has been implicated as one mechanism that may contribute to the amyloid and tau protein deposits that destroy the brain.

(Unique case of disease resistance reveals possible Alzheimer’s treatment, National Institutes of Health)

Similar to bone marrow transplantation, peripheral stem cell transplantation is a method of replacing the blood-forming cells lost due to high-dose chemotherapy, and possibly radiation therapy, used to destroy leukemia cells.

(Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation, NCI Thesaurus)

In type I diabetes, the beta cells, which are the only cells in the body that produce insulin, are destroyed by the immune system resulting in complete lack of the hormone.

(Researchers Develop Insulin-Producing Cells Activated by Light for Diabetes, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)