DESTROY


Meaning of DESTROY in English

de ‧ stroy S2 W2 /dɪˈstrɔɪ/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]

[ Word Family: noun : ↑ destroyer , ↑ destruction ; adjective : ↑ indestructible , ↑ destructive ; verb : ↑ destroy ; adverb : ↑ destructively ]

[ Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: destruire , from Latin destruere , from struere 'to build' ]

1 . to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired ⇨ destruction

completely/totally destroy

The school was completely destroyed by fire.

companies that are polluting and destroying the environment

destroy sb’s confidence/hope/faith etc

2 . if something destroys someone, it ruins their life completely:

The scandal destroyed Simmons and ended his political career.

3 . informal to defeat an opponent easily:

The Bears destroyed the Detroit Lions 35–3.

4 . to kill an animal, especially because it is ill or dangerous:

One of the bulls had to be destroyed.

• • •

COLLOCATIONS

■ nouns

▪ destroy the evidence (=deliberately destroy evidence of a crime)

They set light to the car to destroy the evidence.

▪ destroy the environment

Some of these companies are polluting and destroying the environment.

▪ destroy the world/planet

No one wants another war, which might destroy the world.

▪ destroy sb’s career

She made one bad mistake and it destroyed her career.

▪ destroy sb’s reputation

The scandal destroyed his reputation.

▪ destroy the character of something

New buildings have destroyed much of the character of the area.

▪ destroy sb’s hopes

Losing the game destroyed the team’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

▪ destroy sb’s confidence

When he failed his degree, it completely destroyed his confidence.

■ adverbs

▪ completely/totally destroy something

The plane was completely destroyed when it hit a mountain.

▪ partially destroy something

The Great Fire of 1666 partially destroyed the prison.

■ phrases

▪ be destroyed by fire/a bomb/earthquake etc

The building was destroyed by fire in 2004.

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired:

The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city.

|

The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.

▪ devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it:

Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city.

|

The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.

▪ demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident:

The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times.

|

The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.

▪ flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing:

The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.

▪ wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building:

The toilets had been wrecked by vandals.

|

They just wrecked the place.

▪ trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc:

Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.

▪ obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains:

The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.

▪ reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely:

The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.

▪ ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed:

Fungus may ruin the crop.

|

The new houses will ruin the view.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.