Meaning of destroy in English

destroy

verb [ T ]

/dɪˈstrɔɪ/ us

/dɪˈstrɔɪ/

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to damage something so badly that it cannot be used:

Most of the old part of the city was destroyed by bombs during the war.

completely/totally destroy The accident seemed to have completely/totally destroyed his confidence.

to kill an animal because it is ill, in pain, or dangerous

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These guns will destroy or disable any incoming missile.
Many important historical documents were destroyed in the fire.
In 1906 an earthquake destroyed much of San Francisco.
A bomb fell on the church and destroyed it.
Deforestation is destroying large areas of tropical rain forest.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Destroying and demolishing

annihilate
annihilation
apocalypse
bash through (something)
be sacrificed on the altar of something idiom
consume
costly
dynamite
erosion
erosional
erosionally
erosive
ruination
sabotage
saboteur
sack
sacking
scar
wipe
wreck

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Zoology: veterinary medicine

(Definition of destroy from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

destroy | American Dictionary

destroy

verb [ T ]

/dɪˈstrɔɪ/

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to damage something, esp. in a violent way, so that it can no longer be used or no longer exists:

You can use a shredder to destroy old bank statements.

Losing his job seemed to completely destroy his confidence.

(Definition of destroy from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of destroy

destroy

According to purist views, the exhibition of objects in museums not only irrevocably destroys original contexts, but creates a new context for an object.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There is a certain complicity between archaeology and modernization: after the archaeologists have done their work, the landscape can be legitimately destroyed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Urnfields were systematically destroyed in the reclaimed zones of the landscape.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this period, the urnfields under the essen would have been destroyed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Once a man's sense of moral responsibility is destroyed, it cannot be expected that he will become either a good soldier or a useful citizen.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The fire destroyed the buildings, but at the same time transformed them into baked clay and thereby preserved them as foundations for new buildings.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Everyone who is alive receives utility 1 if the flowers are kept and 1 - if they are destroyed.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Aboriginal heritage and knowledge of family and ancestors relied on oral traditions that were disrupted and mostly destroyed by colonisation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The trolley is heading towards destroying a tool, but can be diverted to a track with one person on it.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Cessation: an object is destroyed or removed and no longer exists in the real world.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Reasons for legume seed loss included eating the seed, livestock or birds eating the crop, beetles, weevils or other pests destroying the seeds.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The numerical goal is to derive a stable scheme that can approximate possibly large gradients without destroying the gauge invariance of the system.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The election had destroyed any immediate hopes of a future electoral agreement between the parties.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such molecules may have been destroyed, altered or displaced into deeper soil layers, where they are protected from radiation and oxidation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Whoever follows such an ' example' destroys his talent.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of destroy?

Translations of destroy

in Chinese (Traditional)

毀壞，摧毀，毀滅, 宰殺，滅殺，殺死（被病痛折磨或危險的動物）…

Meaning of destroy in English

destroy | American Dictionary

Examples of destroy

Translations of destroy

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