1. To ruin completely; spoil: The ancient manuscripts were destroyed by fire.2. To tear down or break up; demolish. See synonyms at ruin. 3. To do away with; put an end to: “In crowded populations, poverty destroys the possibility of cleanliness” (George Bernard Shaw). 4. To kill: destroy a rabid dog.5. To subdue or defeat completely; crush: The rebel forces were destroyed in battle.6. To render useless or ineffective: destroyed the testimony of the prosecution's chief witness.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
To be destructive; cause destruction: “Too much money destroys as surely as too little” (John Simon).
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English destroien, from Old French destruire, from Vulgar Latin *dstrgere, back-formation from Latin dstrctus, past participle of dstruere, to destroy : d-, de- + struere, to pile up; see ster-2 in Appendix I.
d
-stroi
str
gere, back-formation from Latin d
