Word family noun destroyer destruction adjective indestructible destructive verb destroy adverb destructively
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdestructivede‧struc‧tive /dɪˈstrʌktɪv/ ●○○ adjective DESTROYcausing damage to people or things → destroy the destructive power of modern weaponsdestructive to What is good for the individual can be destructive to the family. —destructively adverb —destructiveness noun [uncountable]Examples from the Corpus
destructive• The border war has been wasteful and destructive.• Cizek's method of criticism is constructive, never destructive.• It is impossibly complex, outrageously expensive, overly intrusive, economically destructive and manifestly unfair.• The potential for a destructive arms race is ever present.• Yet another effort to save the banks from the destructive effects of this river.• Jealousy is a very destructive emotion.• Residents were awed by the earthquake's destructive force.• It is the hiding that is destructive, not the pain.• Alcoholics often tend to have stormy and destructive relationships.• The destructive side-effects of pesticides are now well known.• We ran up to the firing range one morning to try out our destructive techniques for real.• This is unfortunate, for such marriages are destructive to both partners.• Clearly, people choose to act selfishly and in destructive ways despite the pain their actions will bring to others.destructive power• If multiple warheads are deployed, the different blast waves reinforce each other, increasing their destructive power.• It was seen as having both healing and destructive power.• Her destructive powers are even greater than Ewan's!• But, given the destructive power of modern weapons, they did not believe that civilization could be protected by war.• In later poems she is usually shown as treacherous and malicious, exerting a deadly and destructive power over men.• The neo-Confucians, by contrast, limited the scope of human destructive power to humanity itself.• Their destructive power was enough to upset the whole economy of a strong and healthy country. 