Meanings
comparative more destructive · superlative most destructive
- Causing destruction; damaging.
The pastures are filled with gay political drop-outs, persons of reasonable intent who found the scene personally destructive.
1980 August 30, David Rothenberg, “A New York State of Confusion”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 6, page 51 more example
After rescuing his estranged daughter in the last film, Live Free Or Die Hard, Willis heads to Russia to rescue his estranged son (Jai Courtney), a CIA agent on a mission to protect a whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) from a corrupt government official (Sergei Kolesnikov) with no shortage of destructive resources at his disposal.
2013 February 14, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: A Good Day To Die Hard”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 20 Feb 2013 - Causing breakdown or disassembly.
Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.
- computingLossy; causing irreversible change.
Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecausing destruction or much damage
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latindēstrūctīvus
- Middle Frenchdestructif
- Middle Englishdestructyve
- Englishdestructive
From Middle English destructyve, from Middle French destructif, from Latin dēstrūctīvus, from past participle of dēstruere (“to tear down, destroy”) + -īvus.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὀλέθριος, ὀλοός
- ὀλέθριος (oléthrios)causing destruction; damaging
- ὀλοός (oloós)causing destruction; damaging
- δηλητήριος (dēlētḗrios)causing destruction; damaging
Bulgarian разрушителен
- разрушителен (razrušitelen)causing destruction; damaging
Catalan destructiu
- destructiucausing destruction; damaging
Chinese Mandarin 破壞性的 /破坏性的, 解體性的 /解体性的
- 破壞性的 /破坏性的 (pòhuàixìng de)causing destruction; damaging
- 解體性的 /解体性的 (jiětǐxìng de)causing breakdown
- 損失性的 /损失性的 (sǔnshīxìng de)lossy
Czech ničivý, destruktivní
- ničivýcausing destruction; damaging
- destruktivnícausing destruction; damaging
Danish destruktiv
- destruktivcausing destruction; damaging
Dutch destructief, destructieve
- destructiefcausing destruction; damaging
- destructievecausing destruction; damaging
- verwoestendcausing destruction; damaging
- verwoestendecausing destruction; damaging
Esperanto pereiga
- pereigacausing destruction; damaging
Finnish tuhoisa, destruktiivinen
- tuhoisacausing destruction; damaging
- destruktiivinencausing destruction; damaging
- hajottavacausing breakdown
- peruuttamatonlossy
- destruktiivinenlossy
French destructif
- destructifcausing destruction; damaging
German destruktiv, schädlich
- destruktivcausing destruction; damaging
- schädlichcausing destruction; damaging
- zerstörendcausing destruction; damaging
Greek καταστροφικός, καταστρεπτικός
- καταστροφικός (katastrofikós)causing destruction; damaging
- καταστρεπτικός (katastreptikós)causing destruction; damaging
- αφανιστικός (afanistikós)causing destruction; damaging
- καταλυτικός (katalytikós)causing breakdown
Hebrew הרסני
- הרסני (harsany)causing destruction; damaging
Hindi घातक, हानिकारक
- घातक (ghātak)causing destruction; damaging
- हानिकारक (hānikārak)causing destruction; damaging
- नाशक (nāśak)causing destruction; damaging
- नाशक (nāśak)causing breakdown
Hungarian destruktív, kártékony
- destruktívcausing destruction; damaging
- kártékonycausing destruction; damaging
- pusztítócausing destruction; damaging
Irish urbhadhach, arganach
- urbhadhachcausing destruction; damaging
- arganachcausing destruction; damaging
- sladachcausing destruction; damaging
Italian distruttivo
- distruttivocausing destruction; damaging
Japanese 破壊的な
- 破壊的な (hakaiteki na)causing destruction; damaging
Korean 파괴적
- 파괴적 (pagoejeok)causing destruction; damaging
Latin exitiosus, exitiābilis
- exitiosuscausing destruction; damaging
- exitiābiliscausing destruction; damaging
- destructivuscausing destruction; damaging
Persian مخرب
- مخربcausing destruction; damaging
Polish destrukcyjny
- destrukcyjnycausing destruction; damaging
Portuguese destrutivo
- destrutivocausing destruction; damaging
Romanian distructiv, distrugător
- distructivcausing destruction; damaging
- distrugătorcausing destruction; damaging
Russian разруши́тельный
- разруши́тельный (razrušítelʹnyj)causing destruction; damaging
Scottish Gaelic millteach, sgriosach
- millteachcausing destruction; damaging
- sgriosachcausing destruction; damaging
- sgriosailcausing destruction; damaging
Spanish destructivo
- destructivocausing destruction; damaging
Swedish destruktiv, destruktiv
- destruktivcausing destruction; damaging
- destruktivcausing breakdown
Tagalog mapanira, mapangwasak
- mapaniracausing destruction; damaging
- mapangwasakcausing destruction; damaging
Turkish yıkıcı, tahripkâr
- yıkıcıcausing destruction; damaging
- tahripkârcausing destruction; damaging
Ukrainian руйнівний, деструктивний
- руйнівний (rujnivnyj)causing destruction; damaging
- деструктивний (destruktyvnyj)causing destruction; damaging
Vietnamese phá hoại, huỷ diệt
- phá hoạicausing destruction; damaging
- huỷ diệtcausing destruction; damaging
Cite this entry
destructive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/destructive
“destructive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/destructive. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “destructive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/destructive.
Source: destructive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.