Home Synonyms destroy

Synonyms of destroy in English:

destroy


See US English definition of destroy

See UK English definition of destroy

See Spanish definition of destruir

verb

1‘their offices were completely destroyed by bombing’

SYNONYMS
demolish, knock down, pull down, tear down, level, raze, raze to the ground, fell, dismantle, break up, wreck, ruin, smash, shatter, crash, blast, blow up, blow to bits, blow to pieces, dynamite, explode, bomb, torpedo
ANTONYMS

build, reconstruct

2‘the increased traffic would destroy the adjoining conservation area’

SYNONYMS
spoil, ruin, wreck, disfigure, blight, mar, blemish, impair, flaw, deface, scar, injure, harm, devastate, damage, lay waste, ravage, wreak havoc on
literary waste
rare disfeature
ANTONYMS

preserve, restore

3‘his illness destroyed his hopes of going to university’

SYNONYMS
wreck, ruin, spoil, disrupt, undo, upset, play havoc with, make a mess of, put an end to, end, bring to an end, put a stop to, terminate, prevent, frustrate, blight, crush, quell, quash, dash, scotch, shatter, vitiate, blast, devastate, demolish, sabotage, torpedo
upset someone's apple cart, cook someone's goose
informal mess up, muck up, screw up, louse up, foul up, make a hash of, do in, put paid to, put the lid on, put the kibosh on, do for, scupper, dish, stymie, queer, nix, banjax, blow a hole in
British informal throw a spanner in the works of, muller
North American informal throw a monkey wrench in the works of
Australian informal euchre, cruel
vulgar slang fuck up
British vulgar slang bugger up, balls up
archaic bring to naught
ANTONYMS

raise

4‘the horse broke its leg and had to be destroyed’

SYNONYMS
kill, kill off, put down, put to sleep, slaughter, terminate, exterminate

5‘the brigade's mission was to destroy the enemy’

SYNONYMS
annihilate, wipe out, obliterate, wipe off the face of the earth, wipe off the map, eliminate, eradicate, liquidate, extinguish, finish off, erase, root out, extirpate
kill, slaughter, massacre, butcher, exterminate, decimate
informal take out, rub out, snuff out, zap
North American informal waste
ANTONYMS

spare

6‘Rangers last night destroyed Leeds 4–0’

SYNONYMS
defeat utterly, beat hollow, win a resounding victory over, annihilate, vanquish, drub, trounce, rout, crush, give someone a drubbing, overwhelm
informal lick, thrash, hammer, clobber, paste, give someone a pasting, whip, pound, pulverize, demolish, wipe the floor with, take to the cleaners, make mincemeat of, slaughter, murder, massacre, crucify, flatten, turn inside out, run rings around
British informal stuff, marmalize
North American informal shellac, blow out, cream, skunk
US informal own
ANTONYMS

lose to