Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use destroy in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb

Destroy means to damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist. Example: “The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.”

Examples of destroy by meaning

verbTo damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.

  • The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.
  • Hooligans destroy unprovoked.
  • Sodium accumulation in soil destroys this natural flocculation and causes the soil to pack.1972 November 5, Joan Lee Faust, “AROUND THE Garden”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 Dec 2024

verbTo neutralize, undo a property or condition.

  • Smoking destroys the natural subtlety of the palate.

verbTo put down or euthanize.

  • Destroying a rabid dog is required by law.

verbTo severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin.

  • Her divorce destroyed her; she had a nervous breakdown and was severely depressed for more than a year.
  • Other girls in the foster home are eager to destroy her and get her kicked out of the place.2005, Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide

verbTo utterly defeat; to crush.

  • Remember when Germany destroyed Brazil 7–1 in the World Cup?
  • That all changed one day when he was 11, after he got destroyed by his father in a game of one on one in the driveway.2012 November 11, Sam Anderson, “The Oklahoma City Thunder's Fairy-Tale Rise”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York...

verbTo remove data.

  • The memory leak happened because we forgot to destroy the temporary lists.

verbTo exhaust completely and thus recreate or build up.

  • This exercise is going to destroy all parts of your shoulders.

verbTo sing a song extremely poorly.

  • JAMES CARTER: The man's destroying a classic!2001, Jeff Nathanson, Rush Hour 2, New Line Cinema

More sentences with destroy

  • The news that a hurricane had destroyed our beach house killed our plans to sell it.From the entry kill
  • In order to destroy evil, we must first acknowledge its existence.From the entry existence
  • The species will be under threat if its natural habitat is destroyed.From the entry natural
  • Nauru imports foods from Australia because phosphate mining destroyed land for farming.From the entry import
  • The damaged mainmast fell athwart the deck, destroying the ship’s boat.From the entry athwart
  • This test frustrates me because if I fail, it'll destroy my grade.From the entry frustrate
  • The cabal to destroy the building was foiled by federal agents.From the entry cabal
  • The inferno ripped through the forest, destroying anything in its path.From the entry inferno
  • The military used incendiaries to destroy the building. Fortunately, the fire didn't spread.From the entry incendiary
  • While looting the stores the looters took the opportunity for revenge by destroying what they didn't steal.From the entry looting
  • The train was destroyed when it was derailed by the collision.From the entry derail
  • The regulator stopped working and the resulting overvoltage destroyed the device.From the entry regulator
  • The infantry were destroyed after the enemy carpet bombed the ground they were occupying.From the entry carpet bomb
  • After the fire destroyed the Bronx pub, it was rebaptized “The Bronx 2”.From the entry rebaptize
  • Have you seen what that person is saying about you online? They are destroying your webutation.From the entry webutation
  • In the space of an hour, they managed to destroy sixty cars.From the entry in the space of
  • That scene earlier pretty well destroyed my chances of getting the job.From the entry pretty well
  • Michael had an accident on the highway. His car was destroyed.From the entry have an accident
  • Unchecked technological progress will destroy us unless we retvrn as soon as possible.From the entry retvrn
  • The loss of their colors destroyed the regiment's morale.From the entry color
  • The ship took a direct hit and was destroyed.From the entry take
  • The warship was destroyed by floating mines.From the entry mine
  • Destruction. Two T-72s destroyed. Three foot mobiles down. Out.From the entry out
  • The building was destroyed by enemy bombing.From the entry enemy
  • Their orders were to pacify the province by destroying resistance.From the entry pacify
  • The satellite was destroyed by a hypervelocity impact.From the entry hypervelocity
  • Your borderline remarks about my aunt’s dress destroyed my evening.From the entry borderline
  • The concentrated fire from the enemy destroyed our fortifications.From the entry concentrated

Meaning of destroy

  1. verb To damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.
  2. verb To neutralize, undo a property or condition.
  3. verb To put down or euthanize.

Full definition of destroy

Questions about destroy in a sentence

How do you use destroy in a sentence?
Destroy is used as a verb. For example: “The earthquake destroyed several apartment complexes.”
What is a short sentence with destroy?
“Hooligans destroy unprovoked.”
What does destroy mean?
Destroy means to damage beyond use or repair; to damage (something) to the point that it effectively ceases to exist.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: destroy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use destroy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/destroy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.