destroy

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destroy

/dɪˈstɹɔɪ/

Rhymes with -ɔɪ

Where it comes from

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

verb destroys · destroying · destroyed

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.
transitive To neutralize, undo a property or condition. Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate.
transitive To put down or euthanize. Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.
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.
informal, transitive To utterly defeat; to crush. Remember when Germany destroyed Brazil 7–1 in the World Cup?
transitive To remove data. The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.
slang, transitive To exhaust completely and thus recreate or build up. This exercise is going to destroy all parts of your shoulders.
slang, transitive, vulgar To penetrate sexually in an aggressive way. She got destroyed by her lover on the carpet.
US, slang, transitive To sing a song extremely poorly. JAMES CARTER: The man's destroying a classic!
slang, transitive To eat food quickly, hungrily or completely. I could destroy some wings right now.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: ruin, demolish, wreck, devastate, destructive, ravage, breakdown, destruction, damaged, wreak, damage, raze, harm, killing, annihilate, kill

verb

Translations

Every language

verb to damage beyond use or repair

Español	destruir, romper, destrozar, escocherar, profligar
한국어	파괴하다 pagoehada, 말살하다 malsalhada, 부수다 busuda
日本語	破壊する hakai suru, 壊す kowasu, 潰す tsubusu, 破る yaburu
中文	銷毀 /销毁 xiāohuǐ, 摧毀 /摧毁 cuīhuǐ, 破壞 /破坏 pòhuài, 毀壞 /毁坏 huǐhuài
हिन्दी	नष्ट करना naṣṭ karnā, नाश करना nāś karnā, बर्बाद करना barbād karnā
Kiswahili	-haribu
Português	destruir, estraçalhar, arruinar, destroçar, detonar
Français	détruire
Deutsch	zerstören, vernichten, kaputtmachen
Italiano	distruggere, annichilare
Ελληνικά	καταστρέφω katastréfo
Română	distruge, nimici
Русский	уничтожа́ть uničtožátʹ, уничто́жить uničtóžitʹ, разруша́ть razrušátʹ, разру́шить razrúšitʹ
Tiếng Việt	huỷ hoại, phá hoại, phá huỷ
العربية	دَمَّرَ dammara
עברית	הָרַס harás

verb to neutralize

中文	中和 zhōnghé
Português	destruir, acabar com
Deutsch	zerstören, kaputtmachen

verb to put down or euthanize (e.g. an animal)

Español	sacrificar
中文	人道毀滅 /人道毁灭 réndào huǐmiè, 銷毀 /销毁 xiāohuǐ
Português	sacrificar
Français	euthanasier
Deutsch	notschlachten, einschläfern
Ελληνικά	αφανίζω afanízo
Русский	истребля́ть istrebljátʹ, истреби́ть istrebítʹ

verb (informal) to utterly defeat

Português	arrasar, destruir
Deutsch	zerstören, vernichten, vernichtend schlagen
Русский	сокруша́ть sokrušátʹ, сокруши́ть sokrušítʹ

verb (computing) to remove data (e.g., from memory)

Português	destruir
Deutsch	löschen
Русский	стира́ть stirátʹ, стере́ть sterétʹ

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Cite this

MLA

"destroy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/destroy. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

destroy. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/destroy

Chicago

"destroy." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/destroy.

BibTeX

@misc{destroy_2026,
  title = {destroy},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/destroy},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}