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Webster 1913 Edition


Destructive

De-struc′tive

,
Adj.
[L.
destructivus
: cf. F.
destructif
.]
Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; – often with of or to;
as, intemperance is
destructive
of health; evil examples are
destructive
to the morals of youth.
Time’s
destructive
power.
Wordsworth.
Syn. – Mortal; deadly; poisonous; fatal; ruinous; malignant; baleful; pernicious; mischievous.

De-struc′tive

,
Noun.
One who destroys; a radical reformer; a destructionist.

Webster 1828 Edition


Destructive

DESTRUCTIVE

,
Adj.
Causing destruction; having the quality of destroying; ruinous; mischievous; pernicious; with of or to; as a destructive fire or famine. Intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth.

Definition 2024


destructive

destructive

English

Adjective

destructive (comparative more destructive, superlative most destructive)

  1. Causing destruction; damaging.
    • 2013 February 14, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: A Good Day To Die Hard”, in The Onion AV Club:
      After rescuing his estranged daughter in the last film, Live Free Or Die Hard, Willis heads to Russia to rescue his estranged son (Jai Courtney), a CIA agent on a mission to protect a whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) from a corrupt government official (Sergei Kolesnikov) with no shortage of destructive resources at his disposal.
  2. Causing breakdown or disassembly.
    Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.
  3. (computing) Lossy; causing irreversible change.
    Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related terms

Translations


French

Adjective

destructive

  1. feminine singular of destructif

Latin

Adjective

dēstructīve

  1. vocative masculine singular of dēstructīvus