v. 25B6; verb
their offices were destroyed by bombing : DEMOLISH, knock down, level, raze (to the ground), fell; wreck, ruin, shatter; blast, blow up, dynamite, explode, bomb.
traffic would destroy the conservation area : SPOIL, ruin, wreck, disfigure, blight, mar, impair, deface, scar, injure, harm, devastate, damage, wreak havoc on.
illness destroyed his career chances : WRECK, ruin, spoil, disrupt, undo, upset, put an end to, put a stop to, terminate, frustrate, blight, crush, quash, dash, scotch; devastate, demolish, sabotage; Brit. throw a spanner in the works of; informal mess up, muck up, foul up, put paid to, put the kibosh on, do for, queer, blow a hole in; Brit. informal scupper; archaic bring to naught.
the horse had to be destroyed : KILL, put down, put to sleep, slaughter, terminate, exterminate.
we had to destroy the enemy : ANNIHILATE, wipe out, obliterate, wipe off the face of the earth, eliminate, eradicate, liquidate, finish off, erase; kill, slaughter, massacre, exterminate; informal take out, rub out, snuff out; N. Amer. informal waste.
build, preserve, raise, spare.