destroy
verb
Simple meaning
To damage beyond use or repair.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihstroySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪstˈɹɔɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
ambitransitive
To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.
transitive
To neutralize, undo a property or condition.
Put (an animal) to death
“The customs agents destroyed the dog that was found to be rabid.”
transitive
To put down or euthanize.
Defeat soundly and humiliatingly
transitiveinformal
To utterly defeat; to crush.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (ambitransitive) To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.
Used this way, destroy is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use destroy
- “The fire destroyed the house.”verb
- “The customs agents destroyed the dog that was found to be rabid.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Spoiled or ruined or demolished.
A small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Warship smaller than a destroyer.
Fungus similar to Amanita phalloides.
A small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship.
An operation developed for United States troops in Vietnam.
Do away with oneself or itself.
An armored vehicle equipped with an antitank gun and capable of high speeds.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.