destructive

English

Etymology

From Middle French destructif, from Latin destructivus, from past participle of destruere (“to tear down, destroy”) + -ivus.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/, /dɪˈstɹʊktɪv/
Audio (RP) (file)

Adjective

destructive (comparative more destructive, superlative most destructive)

Causing destruction; damaging.
- 2013 February 14, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: A Good Day To Die Hard”, in The Onion AV Club‎:
  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.
Causing breakdown or disassembly.
Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.
(computing) Lossy; causing irreversible change.
Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not.

Synonyms

calamitous
catastrophic
devastating
disastrous
eradicative
harmful
pernicious
ruinous
wrackful
wreckful

Antonyms

constructive
nondestructive, non-destructive
productive

Derived terms

antidestructive
autodestructive
destructive backspace
destructive criticism
destructive distillation
destructively
destructiveness
destructive read
destructive sorites
indestructive
neurodestructive
nondestructive
non-destructive read
omnidestructive
self-destructive
superdestructive
undestructive

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *strew-‎ (0 c, 25 e)

Translations

causing destruction; damaging

Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: կործանիչ (hy) (korcaničʿ), կործանարար (hy) (korcanarar)
Bulgarian: разрушителен (bg) (razrušitelen)
Catalan: destructiu
Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Czech: ničivý (cs), destruktivní
Danish: destruktiv
Dutch: destructief (nl), destructieve (nl), verwoestend (nl), verwoestende (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: tuhoisa (fi), destruktiivinen (fi)
French: destructif (fr)
German: destruktiv (de), schädlich (de), zerstörend (de)
Greek: καταστροφικός (el) m (katastrofikós), καταστρεπτικός (el) m (katastreptikós), αφανιστικός (el) (afanistikós)
Ancient: ὀλέθριος (oléthrios), ὀλοός (oloós), δηλητήριος (dēlētḗrios)
Hebrew: הרסני‎ (harsany)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: destruktív (hu), kártékony (hu), pusztító (hu)
Ido: please add this translation if you can
Interlingua: destructive
Irish: urbhadhach, arganach, sladach
Old Irish: bráthamail
Italian: distruttivo (it)
Japanese: 破壊的な (hakaiteki na)
Korean: 파괴적 (ko) (pagoejeok)
Latin: exitiosus, exitiābilis, destructivus
Persian: مخرب‎ (fa)
Polish: destrukcyjny (pl) m
Portuguese: destrutivo (pt)
Romanian: distructiv (ro) m or n, distrugător (ro) m or n
Russian: разруши́тельный (ru) (razrušítelʹnyj)
Sanskrit: हिंस्र (sa) (hiṃsra)
Scottish Gaelic: millteach, sgriosach, sgriosail
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ра́зо̄ран, де̏структӣван, ру̀шилачкӣ
Roman: rázōran (sh), dȅstruktīvan (sh), rùšilačkī (sh)
Spanish: destructivo (es)
Swedish: destruktiv (sv)
Tagalog: mapanira, mapangwasak
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Telugu: please add this translation if you can
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: yıkıcı (tr), tahripkâr
Ukrainian: руйнівний (rujnivnyj), деструктивний (destruktyvnyj)
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Zulu: please add this translation if you can

causing breakdown

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: hajottava (fi)
Greek: καταλυτικός (el) m (katalytikós)
Russian: please add this translation if you can
Swedish: destruktiv (sv)

lossy

Chinese:
Mandarin: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: peruuttamaton (fi), destruktiivinen (fi)
Russian: please add this translation if you can

French

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dɛs.tʁyk.tiv/

Adjective

destructive

feminine singular of destructif

Latin

Adjective

dēstrūctīve

vocative masculine singular of dēstrūctīvus