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Destroy
Definitions
- 1 To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist. ambitransitive
"The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes."
- 2 defeat soundly and humiliatingly wordnet
- 3 To neutralize, undo a property or condition. transitive
"Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate."
- 4 put (an animal) to death wordnet
- 5 To put down or euthanize. transitive
"Destroying a rabid dog is required by law."
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- 6 destroy completely; damage irreparably wordnet
- 7 To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin. transitive
"Her divorce destroyed her; she had a nervous breakdown and was severely depressed for more than a year."
- 8 do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of wordnet
- 9 To utterly defeat; to crush. informal, transitive
"Remember when Germany destroyed Brazil 7–1 in the World Cup?"
- 10 To remove data. transitive
"The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists."
- 11 To exhaust completely and thus recreate or build up. slang, transitive
"This exercise is going to destroy all parts of your shoulders."
- 12 To penetrate sexually in an aggressive way. slang, transitive, vulgar
"She got destroyed by her lover on the carpet."
- 13 To sing a song extremely poorly. US, slang, transitive
"JAMES CARTER: The man's destroying a classic!"
- 14 To eat food quickly, hungrily or completely. slang, transitive
"I could destroy some wings right now."
Etymology
From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrugō, from Classical Latin dēstruō, from dē- (“un-, de-”) + struō (“I build”).
See also for "destroy"
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