Meaning

10 senses

  1. (ambitransitive)To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.

    The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.

    Hooligans destroy unprovoked.

    zerstören, vernichten, kaputtmachen

    уничтожа́тьuničtožátʹ, уничто́житьuničtóžitʹ, разруша́тьrazrušátʹ

    ни́щитиnýščyty, зни́щуватиznýščuvaty, зни́щитиznýščyty

  2. (transitive)To neutralize, undo a property or condition.

    Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate.

    zerstören, kaputtmachen

  3. (transitive)To put down or euthanize.

    Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.

    notschlachten, einschläfern

    истребля́тьistrebljátʹ, истреби́тьistrebítʹ

    put (an animal) to death

  4. (transitive)To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin.

    Her divorce destroyed her; she had a nervous breakdown and was severely depressed for more than a year.

  5. (informal, transitive)To utterly defeat; to crush.

    Remember when Germany destroyed Brazil 7–1 in the World Cup?

    zerstören, vernichten, vernichtend schlagen

    сокруша́тьsokrušátʹ, сокруши́тьsokrušítʹ

    defeat soundly and humiliatingly

  6. (transitive)To remove data.

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

    löschen

    стира́тьstirátʹ, стере́тьsterétʹ

  7. (slang, transitive)To exhaust completely and thus recreate or build up.

    This exercise is going to destroy all parts of your shoulders.

  8. (slang, transitive, vulgar)To penetrate sexually in an aggressive way.

    She got destroyed by her lover on the carpet.

  9. (US, slang, transitive)To sing a song extremely poorly.

  10. (slang, transitive)To eat food quickly, hungrily or completely.

    I could destroy some wings right now.

Examples

945 sentences

  1. The city was destroyed by fire.

    Місто було знищено вогнем. — deniko

    ruГород был уничтожен огнём. — marafon

    deDie Stadt wurde durch Feuer zerstört. — Dejo

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. The house was destroyed by fire.

    Будинок був зруйнований вогнем. — uaspeaker

    ruДом был разрушен огнём. — katjka

    deDas Haus wurde durch Feuer zerstört. — Grim_fandango

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. The soldiers' mission was to destroy the bridge.

    Солдати мали завдання - знищити той міст. — rozmaita

    ruЗадача солдат была уничтожить мост. — averoes

    deDie Mission der Soldaten war es, die Brücke zu zerstören. — xtofu80

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. Tom destroyed a lot of lives.

    Том зруйнував багато життів. — deniko

    CM · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. The blast destroyed everything.

    Вибух знищив усе. — deniko

    ruВзрыв уничтожил всё. — odexed

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to damage beyond use or repair:
Русский
By meaning 4
to damage beyond use or repair:
to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal):
(informal) to utterly defeat:
(computing) to remove data (e.g., from memory):
Deutsch
By meaning 4
to damage beyond use or repair:
to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal):
(informal) to utterly defeat:
(computing) to remove data (e.g., from memory):

Origin

From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrugō, from Cla

From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrugō, from Classical Latin dēstruō, from dē- (“un-, de-”) + struō (“to build”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

destroys, destroying, destroyed, destroyed
Base formdestroy · to destroy
3rd person singulardestroys
Present participledestroying
Past simpledestroyed
Past participledestroyed

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theydestroy
he, she, itdestroys

Past simpleLesson

all personsdestroyed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave destroyed
he, she, ithas destroyed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill destroy

Synonyms

57 synonyms
breakA1demolishB2killA1ruinA2wasteB1dashB2devastateB1diffuseC2disperseC2dissolveB1eliminateB1jazzB1levelB2overthrowB2
Close in meaning
  • put (an animal) to death:put down
  • destroy completely; damage irreparably:ruin
  • do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of:destruct
  • defeat soundly and humiliatingly:demolish

Antonyms

9 antonyms
buildA1constructB1createA2makeA1raiseA2repairA2produceA2rebuildB1recoverB1

Word family

16 related words
RelateddestructionB1destructiveB1destructdestructibledestroyer
Deriveddestroyabilitydestroyabledestroyaldestroyed jeansdestroyer escortdestroying angeldestroyinglydownstroyredestroyundestroyundestroyed

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

Collocations

9 patterns
  • was destroyed by
  • destroyed by the
  • was completely destroyed
  • completely destroyed
  • destroyed everything
  • house was destroyed
  • destroyed everything in
  • have been destroyed
  • homes were destroyed

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
destinyB2destitutedestitutiondestroyerdestructdestructionB1destructiveB1

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

destroy — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto