Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use destructive in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective

Destructive means causing destruction; damaging. Example: “Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.”

Examples of destructive by meaning

adjectiveCausing 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 5

adjectiveCausing breakdown or disassembly.

  • Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.

adjectiveLossy; causing irreversible change.

  • Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not.

More sentences with destructive

  • Some think to tax wealth is destructive of a private sector.From the entry tax
  • The violence of the storm, fortunately, was more awesome than destructive.From the entry violence
  • A failure of one of the rocket's first-stage engines just after liftoff would result in a destructive pad fallback.From the entry fallback
  • The tsunami was awesome in its destructive power.From the entry awesome
  • When a hurricane becomes so deadly or destructive that future use would be insensitive, officials may retire the name of the hurricane.From the entry retire
  • It is a progressively destructive infectious disease of the body tissue, affecting skin, muscle and even bone.2025 April 26, Agence France-Presse, “Only global research unit on tropical skin disease becomes casualty of war”, in South China Morning…. From the entry mycetoma
  • The Etruscans and Romans practiced destructive rituals to deconsecrate temples and “unfound” cities.2014, Jason Colavito, Jason and the Argonauts through the Ages, McFarland, →ISBN. From the entry unfound
  • This resulted in the destructive degearing of industry in general and property owning organisations in particular.2014, Anthony Banfield, Stapleton's Real Estate Management Practice, →ISBN. From the entry degearing
  • It's the least obvious type but nevertheless very destructive and harmful.2012, Kathleen M. Reay, Toxic Divorce: A Workbook for Alienated Parents, →ISBN. From the entry underhanding
  • Tayras can be tamed and make interesting but fairly destructive pets.2010, Carlos L. de la Rosa, Claudia C. Nocke, A Guide to the Carnivores of Central America, unnumbered page. From the entry tayra
  • There existed destructive female demons called parik, whose husbands were known as kaj.2006, The Cambridge History of Iran, volume 3, pt.1: Iran, Armenia and Georgia, page 611. From the entry kaj
  • The Internet undermines the quality of human interaction, allowing destructive emotional impulses freer rein under specific circumstances.2006, John Brockman [ed.], Daniel Goleman [contrib.], “Cyberdisinhibition”, in What Is Your Dangerous Idea?: Today’s Leading Thinkers on…. From the entry cyberdisinhibition
  • Lemmings are strongly cohesive, but could be, in organisational terms, highly destructive for the business.2004, Ilse Hobbs, Jan Havenga, A Practical Guide to Strategy, →ISBN, page 127. From the entry lemming
  • Potentially destructive conflicts basculate at this stage on the destructive side.2002, Cathering Zwetkoff, SUIT: Sustainable development of Urban historical areas through an active Integraion within Towns, page 204. From the entry basculate
  • The destructive lionly skepticism burns all bridges to prior beliefs and presuppositions.1994, George David Miller, An Idiosyncratic Ethics. From the entry lionly
  • The PILLWORM is restless, aggressive, and nearly as destructive as, though more sophisticated than, the APHID.1961, African Violet Magazine, volume 15, page 71. From the entry pillworm
  • A brawny edema of the labia, with deeply penetrating destructive ulcers may occur in the late stages.1960, Laman Alexander Gray, A Text Book of Gynecology, page 47. From the entry blue balls
  • Yet true destructive power is power just the same as constructive.1925, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Blessed are the Powerful”, in Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine and Other Essays, 1st American…. From the entry scourge
  • This method was very destructive to the tree, and boring was substituted for it.1918 April, F. L. B., “The Maple Sugar Industry”, in Forest Leaves, volume XVI, number 8 (number 184 overall), Philadelphia, Pa.…. From the entry box
  • Two can play at destructive industrialism, and now we out-gun you.1917, H.G. Wells, War and the Future. From the entry outgun
  • That's very destructive winds and it's going to carry this inertia and the rain with it well inland.2023 April 13, 07:56 am (UTC+10/AEST), in News Breakfast, season 2023, episode 74, spoken by Nate Byrne, Melbourne, Australia: ABC News. From the entry drink
  • Dyson’s censure at least gave her two sons some rationale for why Diana did something so destructive to their happiness.April 5 2022, Tina Brown, “How Princess Diana’s Dance With the Media Impacted William and Harry”, in Vanity Fair. From the entry rationale
  • "We're still in an existential-stakes war with the Pa'anuri, and possibly with our own destructive tendencies." ' "Sorry.2020 January 8, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 13 Feb 2025. From the entry heavy
  • "The destructive problem with flooding is when water washes over the railway and runs down the other side," explains Hinshelwood.2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, pages 59–60. From the entry rock armour
  • Children are way more destructive than most pets, and having more crotch spawns doesn't boost rent at all.2019 February 6, Natasha Thomas (quoted), “What Readers Have to Say About a Bill to Outlaw Pet Rent in Oregon”, in Willamette Week. From the entry crotch spawn
  • The company states that in an engine, the areas of excessive stress have a lot of destructive heat.2017 October 16, “Probuz and Reverto Lubricants Launched in India”, in Overdrive. From the entry revitalizant
  • The frequency of destructive spondylarthropathy increases with duration of survival.2010, Klaus Olgaard, Isidro B. Salusky, Justin Silver, The Spectrum of Mineral and Bone Disorders in Chronic Kidney Disease, OUP Oxford…. From the entry spondylarthropathy
  • A very serious bacterial disease in North America and Europe is fire blight, which can be most destructive to pears.2008, A. T. G. Elzebroek, Guide to Cultivated Plants, page 82. From the entry fire blight
  • They were the primal and destructive entities that, as lore has it, were bent on the destruction of man- and godkind.2008, Kaedrich Olsen, Runes for Transformation. From the entry godkind
  • Agriculture, which is arguably the biggest business in the world, is also the single most environmentally destructive human activity.1999, Gregory Cajete, A People's Ecology: Explorations in Sustainable Living, Book Marketing Group, →ISBN, page 67. From the entry unemploy
  • Another parliamentarian, Gabi Potthast, agreed that the situation is destructive.1985, Woman of Power - Issues 2-7, page 28. From the entry self-rape
  • Many aspects of it are destructive and repellant.1978 December 23, Michael Bronski, “Notes and Thoughts by One Gay Man on Pornography and Censorship”, in Gay Community News, volume 6…. From the entry repellent
  • In the other countries under Soviet suzerainty, cultural Stalinization was for various reasons more thorough and more destructive.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume III: The Breakdown, Oxford…. From the entry stalinization
  • And the sparrows are even more lovable—just as, believe it or not, they are even more costlily destructive—than squirrels.1975, Tribune, page 12, column 1. From the entry costlily
  • If he wants to feel alive, it must be in the terrible exaltation of a brief and destructive action.1951, Albert Camus, The Rebel, page 46. From the entry Byronic hero
  • Compared with the female, the male animal is katabolic; he is active, impulsive, destructive, skilful, creative, intense, spasmodic, violent.1912, Earl Barnes, Woman in Modern Society. From the entry katabolic
  • Even environmentally problematic buildings may serve as warning examples, akin to ancient Japanese “tsunami-stones” that warn future generations about the reach of destructive waves.2024 November 29, Matti Kuittinen, Sanna Lehtinen, Panu Pihkala, “Architecture: Cause or Cure for Eco-Anxiety?”, in Studies in Health…. From the entry tsunami stone

Meaning of destructive

  1. adjective Causing destruction; damaging.
  2. adjective Causing breakdown or disassembly.
  3. adjective Lossy; causing irreversible change.

Full definition of destructive

Questions about destructive in a sentence

How do you use destructive in a sentence?
Destructive is used as an adjective. For example: “Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.”
What is a short sentence with destructive?
“Many aspects of it are destructive and repellant.”
What does destructive mean?
Destructive means causing destruction; damaging.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: destructive (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 destructive in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/destructive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.