Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

destructive

/dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.89 in modern English

Syllables: de-struc-tive
IPA: /dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/

17

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

3

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Causing destruction; damaging.

adj

Causing breakdown or disassembly.

adj

Lossy; causing irreversible change.

Example Sentences

"The pastures are filled with gay political drop-outs, persons of reasonable intent who found the scene personally destructive."
"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."
"Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy."
"Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not."

Etymology

From Middle English destructyve, from Middle French destructif, from Latin dēstrūctīvus, from past participle of dēstruere (“to tear down, destroy”) + -īvus.

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *strew-, destructyve, destructif, dēstrūctīvus

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/
British English: /dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/

Inflected Forms

more destructive (comparative) most destructive (superlative)

Derived Forms

angiodestructive antidestructive autodestructive cyclodestructive cytodestructive destructively destructiveness destructivism destructivist destructivity hyperdestructive immunodestructive

Phrases

destructive backspace destructive criticism destructive distillation destructive interference destructive read destructive sorites non-destructive read self-destructive

Synonyms

calamitous catastrophic devastating disastrous eradicative harmful pernicious ruinous wrackful wreckful

Antonyms

constructive nondestructive non-destructive productive

Rhymes With

productive non-productive reproductive constructive seductive unproductive conductive instructive obstructive inductive reconstructive superconductive

Questions

How do you pronounce destructive?: The recorded pronunciation is /dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/.
What does destructive mean?: Causing destruction; damaging.
Where does destructive come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce destructive

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “destructive”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/dɪˈstɹʌktɪv/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “destructive”.
Repeat and practice — Say “destructive” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.