The Collaborative International Dictionary
Destroy \De*stroy"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Destroyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Destroying.] [OE. destroien, destruien, destrien, OF. destruire, F. d['e]truire, fr. L. destruere, destructum; de + struere to pile up, build. See Structure.]
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To unbuild; to pull or tear down; to separate virulently into its constituent parts; to break up the structure and organic existence of; to demolish.
But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.
--Ex. xxxiv. 13. -
To ruin; to bring to naught; to put an end to; to annihilate; to consume.
I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation.
--Jer. xii. 17. -
To put an end to the existence, prosperity, or beauty of; to kill.
If him by force he can destroy, or, worse, By some false guile pervert.
--Milton.Syn: To demolish; lay waste; consume; raze; dismantle; ruin; throw down; overthrow; subvert; desolate; devastate; deface; extirpate; extinguish; kill; slay. See Demolish.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of destroy English)
Usage examples of "destroying".
There was yolk all over the place and crumpled shells for, in its death throes, the snake's dead body had convulsed, completely destroying the nest.
It proves that the Gringg ship did fire on Fingal III, destroying at least one of the cities on the surface and several of the satellites.
See what you nearly did, destroying the peace both our species have enjoyed.
Probably they cut off Phoenix's communications with the outside first, destroying their support system, traders and so on.
Critical as the situation was, she could not justify destroying the Station to jump-start the Zaid-Dayan and bringing the insystem drive up was a delicate operation.
Thunder boomed continuously, the wind howled, and sheets—no, entire linen-closets—of rain pounded the ground, not only baffling any attempt at a visual scan of the site, but destroying any hope of any other kind of check.
Would you immediately trust fugitives who came so close to destroying them, though we knew it not?
Their premiere creation, and the one we're most concerned with, has the effect of destroying the memory center of the brain.
They paralyzed him so that he could only lie there knowing that simply by breathing he was destroying his people.
So even if they did impound the Wyal for a few months they'd be hard pressed to find an excuse for destroying her.
Rumors began to spread that Chaumel and an unknown army of mages wanted to take over the rest by destroying their connection to the Core of Ozran.
These—yes, these were the last stars she had seen before the bomb in her fuel tank exploded, destroying her first ship and killing Fanine.
It was determined that Lieutenant Schafer and Commander Uskar had turned in the bands they wore on the day of departure downside and no one had thought to see if the bands were legitimate before destroying them, as per regulations.
But he got Vandermeer on the blower which was smart, because they were having quite a time, keeping the 'Dinis off 'em while they planted charges because they thought destroying the things,' and Gravy shuddered, 'was the right thing to do.
As you may be aware, controversy rages over whether we, the Alliance, have the right to inflict the atrocity of destroying occupied Hiver worlds.