English Reference

Word

destruct

Phoneticsde·struct

US/dɪˈstɹəkt/

UK/dɪstɹˈʌkt/

Definition

v. to destroy or break something completely. In programming, it often means to remove a file or a piece of data from a system.

v. to destroy or cause the complete breakdown of something. In a technical or programming context, it refers to the removal or deletion of data, files, or objects from a system.

Examples

“The virus can destruct all files on your hard drive.”

“The developer wrote a script to destruct the temporary files after the application finishes running.”

“The system is designed to automatically destruct sensitive data once the user logs out to prevent unauthorized access to private information.”

Examples

simple

“The virus can destruct all files on your hard drive.”

contextual

“The developer wrote a script to destruct the temporary files after the application finishes running.”

complex

“The system is designed to automatically destruct sensitive data once the user logs out to prevent unauthorized access to private information.”

Etymology

Back-formation from destruction.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Domain

Programming

This entry

Level
C1 · Advanced
Frequency
Occasional
Updated

Scan code

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English Reference