01 a. Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; perniciou…
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1.
Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; -- often with of or to; as, intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth.“Time's destructive power.” — Wordsworth.
Phrases & compounds
Destructive distillation —
See Distillation.
Destructive sorties —
a process of reasoning which involves the denial of the first of a series of dependent propositions as a consequence of the denial of the last; a species of reductio ad absurdum.
Syn.
Mortal; deadly; poisonous; fatal; ruinous; malignant; baleful; pernicious; mischievous.