destroy
- 01 A2 Elementary
to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be fixed.
to damage an object or entity to the point that it effectively ceases to exist or cannot be restored to its original state.
Simple“The fire destroyed the old wooden house in less than an hour.”
In context“The earthquake destroyed several historic landmarks, leaving the city with the difficult task of rebuilding its cultural heritage from the ground up.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to make someone's life or happiness very bad.
to severely disrupt or ruin the well-being, reputation, or emotional state of a person.
Simple“The scandal destroyed his career as a politician.”
In context“Losing her business in the recession destroyed her confidence, making it hard for her to start over in a new industry.”
- 03 B1 Intermediate
to win against someone very easily or by a large score.
to utterly defeat or crush an opponent in a competition or argument.
Simple“Our team destroyed the visitors with a five-zero win.”
In context“The champion destroyed his challenger in the first round, proving that he was still the most dominant athlete in the league.”
SynonymsAntonymslose to - 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
to remove information from a computer or disk forever.
to permanently remove or overwrite data so that it cannot be recovered.
Simple“Make sure you destroy all personal files before selling your old laptop.”
In context“The security protocol was designed to destroy all sensitive data on the server if an unauthorised login attempt was detected.”
- 05 C1 Advanced
to kill an animal because it is very sick or dangerous.
to put down or euthanize an animal, typically for safety or welfare reasons.
Simple“The vet had to destroy the horse after it broke its leg in the race.”
In context“Authorities were forced to destroy the stray dogs after several reports of aggressive behaviour toward local residents.”
Synonymseuthanizeput down - 06 B2 Upper Intermediate
to eat a large amount of food very fast.
to consume food rapidly and completely.
Simple“The teenagers destroyed three large pizzas in ten minutes.”
In context“After the long hike, the group destroyed the entire buffet, leaving almost nothing for the other guests.”
SynonymsAntonyms
Usage destroy rare
From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrugō, from Classical Latin dēstruō, from dē- (“un-, de-”) + struō (“I build”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.