- To destroy is defined as to damage, ruin or spoil something beyond repair.
When you drive a truck into a house and totally demolish it, this is an example of a situation where you destroy the house.
This house has been destroyed.
destroy definition by Webster's New World
transitive verb
- to tear down; demolish
- to break up or spoil completely; ruin
- to bring to total defeat; crush
- to put an end to; do away with
- to kill
- to neutralize the effect of
- to make useless
Origin: Middle English destroien ; from Old French destruire ; from Classical Latin destruere ; from de-, down plush struere, to build: see structure
intransitive verb
to bring about destruction
destroy definition by American Heritage Dictionary
verb de·stroyed, de·stroy·ing, de·stroys verb, transitive
- To ruin completely; spoil: The ancient manuscripts were destroyed by fire.
- To tear down or break up; demolish. See Synonyms at ruin.
- To do away with; put an end to: “In crowded populations, poverty destroys the possibility of cleanliness” (George Bernard Shaw).
- To kill: destroy a rabid dog.
- To subdue or defeat completely; crush: The rebel forces were destroyed in battle.
- To render useless or ineffective: destroyed the testimony of the prosecution's chief witness.
To be destructive; cause destruction: “Too much money destroys as surely as too little” (John Simon).
Origin: Middle English destroien, from Old French destruire, from Vulgar Latin *dēstrūgere, back-formation from Latin dēstrūctus, past participle of dēstruere, to destroy : dē-, de- + struere, to pile up; see ster-2 in Indo-European roots.
