destroy (v.)

c. 1200, destruien, later destroien, "to overthrow, lay waste, ruin," from Old French destruire "destroy, ravage, lay waste" (12c., Modern French détruire), from Vulgar Latin *destrugere (source of Italian distruggere), refashioned (influenced by destructus), from Latin destruere "tear down, demolish," literally "un-build," from de "un-, down" (see de-) + struere "to pile, build" (from PIE *streu-, extended form of root *stere- "to spread").

From c. 1300 as "to kill, slay," also "to pull down, demolish" (what has been built); also "bring to naught, put an end to." Related: Destroyed; destroying.

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to destroy

destroyer (n.)

late 14c., destruier, destroier, "a plunderer, a killer," agent noun from the verb in English (see destroy) and from Old French destruiere, from destruire.

As a type of small, fast warship, 1894, short for torpedo-boat destroyer (1885); their original purpose was to guard battleships and commercial ships against attacks from small, swift torpedo-boats (a name attested from 1864 in the American Civil War). An important design modification of the torpedo-boat, confusingly, was named "Destroyer," designed by John Ericsson and launched late in 1878 in New York but never brought in service in the U.S. Navy. The class has been generally called destroyers since World War I, when their chief purpose shifted to escort work and attacking submarines.

destructive (adj.)

"causing destruction, tending to destroy," late 15c. (Caxton), from Old French destructif (14c.), from Late Latin destructivus, from destruct-, past-participle stem of Latin destruere "to tear down, demolish" (see destroy). Related: Destructively; destructiveness.

de-

*stere-

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Trends of destroy

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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demolish

1560s, "to destroy the structural character of (a building, wall, etc.), by violently pulling it to pieces," from French demoliss-, present-participle stem of démolir "to destroy, tear down" (late 14c.), from Latin demoliri "tear down," from de "down" (see de-) + moliri "build, c

destruct

"to destroy," 1958, probably a back-formation from destruction in the jargon of U.S. aerospace and defense workers to refer to deliberate destruction of a missile in flight by a friendly agent; popularized 1966 in form self-destruct in the voice-over at the beginning of TV spy dr

ruin

late Old English, "act of giving way and falling down" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish ruina, Italian rovina), which is a derivative of ruere "to rush, fall violently, co

consume

late 14c., "to destroy by separating into parts which cannot be reunited, as by burning or eating," hence "destroy the substance...Specifically, "to destroy by use, wear out by applying to its natural or intended use" from c. 1400....

delete

"destroy, eradicate," 1530s, from Latin deletus, past participle of delere "destroy, blot out, efface," from delevi, originally...

spill

Middle English spillen, from Old English spillan "destroy; destroy the life of, mutilate, kill," especially in a brutal way..., also in late Old English "to waste;" a variant of spildan "destroy," from Proto-Germanic *spilthjan (source also of Old...High German spildan "to spill," Old Saxon spildian "destroy, kill," Old Norse spilla "to destroy," Danish spilde "lose,...

amortize

late 14c., amortisen, in law, "to alienate lands," also (c. 1400) "to deaden, destroy;" from Old French amortiss-, present-participle...stem of amortir "deaden, kill, destroy; give up by right" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *admortire "to extinguish," from ad...

eliminate

1560s, "to thrust out, remove, throw out of doors," from Latin eliminatus, past participle of eliminare "thrust out of doors, expel," from ex limine "off the threshold," from ex "off, out" (see ex-) + limine, ablative of limen "threshold" (see limit (n.)). Used literally at first

raze

1540s, "completely destroy," an alteration of racen "pull or knock down" (a building or town), from earlier rasen (14c.), etymologically "to scratch, slash, scrape, erase," from Old French raser "to scrape, shave," from Medieval Latin rasare, frequentative of Latin radere (past p

dismantle

1570s, "deprive or strip of fortifications or equipment, raze, destroy, tear down," from French desmanteler "to tear down the walls of a fortress," literally "strip of a cloak," from des- "off, away" (see dis-) + manteler "to cloak," from mantel "cloak" (see mantle (n.)). The lit

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updated on August 04, 2018

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destructive