Destructive

How to spell destructive

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce destructive

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does destructive mean?

1. adjectiveCausing great damage, harm, or ruin to something.

Destructive in a sentence

• The storm was so destructive that several roofs were torn off.

• Constant criticism can be destructive to a young person's confidence.

Where does destructive come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb destruere, meaning 'to tear down' or 'to demolish', which was formed from the prefix de-, carrying the sense of 'down' or 'reversal', and struere, meaning 'to build' or 'pile up'. The Latin past participle destructus produced the late Latin destructivus, literally 'tending to tear down', the direct ancestor of the modern adjective. English took the word in during the late Middle Ages, largely by way of Old French destructif, settling into its current form by the fifteenth century. The same struere root quietly underpins a whole family of familiar words, including 'structure', 'construct', and 'instruct', which is a useful spelling anchor: the central -struct- is identical across all of them. Keeping that shared block in mind also reminds the writer that destructive has a single c, not the doubled letters that trip people up elsewhere.

How the word is built

• de- (down, away)
• struct (from struere: to build, pile up)
• -ive (adjective: tending to)