destroyer
US/dəˈstɹɔɪ.ɚ/
destroyer noun: that which destroys something.
Noun
destroyer (plural destroyers)
- That which destroys something.
- But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissel excels.1901, Sylvester D. Judd, The Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture, page 91
- These temple destroyers, devotees of ravaging commercialism, seem to have a perfect contempt for Nature, and, instead of lifting their eyes to the God of the mountains, lift them to the Almighty Dollar.1908 January, John Muir, “Hetch Hetchy Valley”, in Sierra Club Bulletin
- Synonyms:
- devastator, decimator
- A small, fast warship with light gun armament, smaller than a cruiser, but bigger than a frigate.
- A larger warship with guided missile armament, usually intended for air defence or anti-ship roles. Often, but not always, larger than a frigate and smaller than a cruiser.
- A starship of comparable role.
destroyer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
destroyer in Hindi
- that who/which destroys
- नाशक nāśak, विनाशक vināśak
destroyer in Tamil
- அழிப்பவர்
destroyer in Marathi
- type of warship
- डिस्ट्रॉयर ḍisṭrŏyar, विनाशिका vināśikā
- that who/which destroys
- विनाशक vināśak, नाशक nāśak
destroyer in Urdu
- غارتگر, خانہ برانداز
More languagesFewer languages
- destroyer in Bengali
- বিধ্বংসকারী bidhôṅśôkārī
- destroyer in Telugu
- సూదనుడు sūdanuḍu
- destroyer in Malayalam
- മുടിയൻ muṭiyaṉ
- destroyer in Kannada
- ಅಳಿಪ, ಕೆಡಿಕ, ಬೀಳುಗ, ಹಾಳುಗ
- destroyer in Gujarati
- વિધ્વંસક
- destroyer in Odia
- ଧ୍ୱଂସକାରୀ, ବିନାଶକ
- destroyer in Sanskrit
- दर्मन् darman
- destroyer in Nepali
- विध्वंसक, विनाशक
- destroyer in Arabic
- مُدَمِّر mudammir
- destroyer in Malay
- kapal pembinasa, pembinasa, perosak
- destroyer in Indonesian
- perusak
- destroyer in Thai
- เรือพิฆาต
- destroyer in Vietnamese
- tàu khu trục, khu trục hạm
Examples of destroyer in a sentence
- A single EXOCET antiship missile can sink a destroyer. Try not to get hit.
- The admiral will be commissioning the new destroyer in a few minutes.
- After the freighter was torpedoed, its escorting destroyers depth charged the submarine for two hours, but failed to sink it.
Synonyms of destroyer
Forms of destroyer
| plural | destroyers |
|---|
Origin of destroyer
Inherited from Middle English destroyour, destroyere; By surface analysis, destroy + -er. Designating a warship, it is ellipsis of torpedo-boat destroyer, the longer term appearing at the end of the 19th century and the shorter form early in the 20th.
Words formed from destroyer
- command destroyer
- commerce destroyer
- destroyer escort
- destroyer leader
- destroyer minesweeper
- flag destroyer
- mealybug destroyer
- self-destroyer
- tank destroyer
Phrases with destroyer
Words that rhyme with destroyer
Questions about destroyer
- What does destroyer mean?
- Destroyer means that which destroys something.
- What is destroyer in Hindi?
- Destroyer in Hindi is नाशक (nāśak), विनाशक (vināśak). See Destroyer meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is destroyer?
- Destroyer is a noun.
- How do you pronounce destroyer?
- Destroyer is pronounced /dəˈstɹɔɪ.ɚ/ (US).
- What is the plural of destroyer?
- The plural of destroyer is destroyers.
Words near destroyer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: destroyer (page history and authors); destroyer (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); destroyer (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); বিধ্বংসকারী (Bengali) (page history and authors); సూదనుడు (Telugu) (page history and authors); മുടിയൻ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); destroyer (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); destroyer (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); destroyer (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); destroyer (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-destroyer.wav.
Cite this entry: “destroyer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/destroyer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.