What is "destructive sorties"

Destructive \De*struc"tive\, a. [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.

Destructive distillation. See Distillation.

Destructive sorties(Logic), a process of reasoning which involves the denial of the first of a series of dependent propositions as a consequence of the denial of the last; a species of reductio ad absurdum.
--Whately.

Syn: Mortal; deadly; poisonous; fatal; ruinous; malignant; baleful; pernicious; mischievous.