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Destructive synonyms

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adverse
Acting or serving to oppose; antagonistic:
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  1. Acting or serving to oppose; antagonistic:
  2. Moving in an opposite or opposing direction:
  3. Contrary to one's interests or welfare; harmful or unfavorable:
negative
Unfavorable or detrimental:
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  1. Unfavorable or detrimental:
  2. Hostile or disparaging; malicious:
  3. Gloomy; pessimistic:
ruinous
Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive:
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  1. Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive:
  2. Bringing or tending to bring ruin; very destructive or harmful; disastrous
  3. Falling or fallen into ruin; dilapidated; decayed
noxious
Harmful to the mind or morals; corrupting:
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  1. Harmful to the mind or morals; corrupting:
  2. Morally injurious; corrupting; unwholesome
  3. Harmful to living things; injurious to health:
baneful
Portending harm; ominous.
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  1. Portending harm; ominous.
  2. Causing harm, ruin, or death; harmful.
pestiferous
Bringing or carrying disease
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  1. Bringing or carrying disease
  2. (Informal) Annoying; mischievous; bothersome
  3. Morally evil or deadly; pernicious.
noisome
Offensive to the point of arousing disgust; foul:
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  1. Offensive to the point of arousing disgust; foul:
  2. Having a bad odor; foul-smelling
  3. Harmful or dangerous:
fatal
Of decisive importance; fateful:
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  1. Of decisive importance; fateful:
  2. Causing ruin or destruction; disastrous:
  3. Very destructive; most unfortunate; disastrous
deleterious
Harmful to health or well-being; injurious
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  1. Harmful to health or well-being; injurious
  2. Having a harmful effect; injurious:
  3. Harmful often in a subtle or unexpected way (as for example deleterious effects, deleterious to health).
pestilential
Producing pestilence or plague; pestilent
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  1. Producing pestilence or plague; pestilent
  2. Of, causing, or likely to cause pestilence or infection
  3. Pernicious; dangerous; harmful
catastrophic
Of, relating to, or involving a catastrophe.
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  1. Of, relating to, or involving a catastrophe.
  2. Involving or resulting in substantial, often ruinous medical expense:
  3. Disastrous; ruinous.
calamitous
Concerning or involving calamity, disastrous.
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  1. Concerning or involving calamity, disastrous.
  2. Causing or bringing calamity
  3. Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
disastrous
Extremely bad; terrible:
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  1. Extremely bad; terrible:
  2. Of the nature of a disaster; causing great harm, damage, etc.; calamitous
  3. Accompanied by or causing distress or disaster; calamitous.
fell
Fierce; terrible; cruel
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  1. Fierce; terrible; cruel
  2. Dire; sinister:
  3. Of an inhumanly cruel nature; fierce:
dire
Calling for quick action; urgent
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  1. Calling for quick action; urgent
  2. Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous:
  3. Arousing terror or causing extreme distress; dreadful; terrible
lethal
Extremely harmful; devastating:
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  1. Extremely harmful; devastating:
  2. Causing or capable of causing death; fatal or deadly
extirpative
Of, relating to, or pertaining to an extirpation.
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  1. Of, relating to, or pertaining to an extirpation.
internecine
Deadly or harmful to both sides of a group involved in a conflict, as a civil war; mutually destructive or harmful
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  1. Deadly or harmful to both sides of a group involved in a conflict, as a civil war; mutually destructive or harmful
  2. Of or relating to struggle within a nation, organization, or group.
  3. Mutually destructive; ruinous or fatal to both sides.
mortal
Conceivable; imaginable:
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  1. Conceivable; imaginable:
  2. Liable or subject to death; not immortal:
  3. Relentlessly hostile; implacable:
mischievous
Injurious; harmful
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  1. Injurious; harmful
  2. Troublesome, cheeky, badly behaved.
  3. Troublesome; irritating:
detrimental
Causing damage or harm; injurious.
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  1. Causing damage or harm; injurious.
  2. Causing detriment; harmful
annihilative
Serving to annihilate; destructive.
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  1. Serving to annihilate; destructive.
  2. Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
  3. Capable of causing utter destruction or serving to destroy utterly:
hurtful
Damaging or harmful:
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  1. Damaging or harmful:
  2. Causing hurt; specif., wounding the feelings
  3. Causing pain or suffering, especially of a psychological nature.
harmful
Causing or able to cause harm; hurtful
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  1. Causing or able to cause harm; hurtful
  2. Causing or capable of causing harm; injurious.
subversive
Intending or intended to subvert an established order, especially to undermine or overthrow an established government:
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  1. Intending or intended to subvert an established order, especially to undermine or overthrow an established government:
incendiary
Willfully stirring up strife, riot, rebellion, etc.
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  1. Willfully stirring up strife, riot, rebellion, etc.
  2. Tending to arouse strong emotion or conflict; inflammatory:
  3. Causing or designed to cause fires, as certain substances, bombs, etc.
murderous
Capable or guilty of, or intending, murder
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  1. Capable or guilty of, or intending, murder
  2. Of, having the nature of, or characteristic of murder; brutal
  3. (Informal) Capable of devastating or overwhelming:
disruptive
Radically reconfiguring a particular field of business, as by implementing new technologies or a more competitive business model:
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  1. Radically reconfiguring a particular field of business, as by implementing new technologies or a more competitive business model:
  2. Relating to, causing, or produced by disruption.
  3. Causing disrupt or unrest.
suicidal
Considering or desiring death by suicide.
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  1. Considering or desiring death by suicide.
  2. Rash to the point of being very dangerous
  3. Dangerous to oneself or to one's interests; self-destructive or ruinous:
evil
Resulting from or based on conduct regarded as immoral
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  1. Resulting from or based on conduct regarded as immoral
  2. Morally bad or wrong; wicked:
  3. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous:
injurious
Causing or tending to cause injury; harmful:
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  1. Causing or tending to cause injury; harmful:
  2. Offensive or insulting; hurtful:
  3. Injuring or likely to cause injury; harmful
venomous
Malicious; spiteful:
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  1. Malicious; spiteful:
  2. Full of or containing venom:
  3. Harmful or destructive:
pernicious
Causing great injury, destruction, or ruin; fatal; deadly
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  1. Causing great injury, destruction, or ruin; fatal; deadly
  2. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly:
  3. (Rare) Wicked; evil
toxic
Extremely risky or harmful, as a debt for which the borrower is in default and the collateral has lost so much value that its sale cannot cover the amount of the loan.
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  1. Extremely risky or harmful, as a debt for which the borrower is in default and the collateral has lost so much value that its sale cannot cover the amount of the loan.
  2. Relating to or caused by a toxin or other poison:
  3. Capable of causing injury or death, especially by chemical means; poisonous:
baleful
Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
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  1. Miserable, wretched, distressed, suffering.
  2. Harmful or malignant in intent or effect:
  3. Harmful or threatening harm or evil; ominous; deadly
disintegrative
(Psychology) Having disorganized psychological and behavioral processes.
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  1. (Psychology) Having disorganized psychological and behavioral processes.
  2. Losing cohesion or unity.
corrosive
Corroding or causing corrosion
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  1. Corroding or causing corrosion
  2. Gradually destructive; steadily harmful:
  3. Eating away; having the power of gradually wearing, hanging, or destroying the texture or substance of a body; as the corrosive action of an acid.
erosive
Causing erosion; eroding
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  1. Causing erosion; eroding
  2. Causing or tending to cause erosion
  3. Causing erosion:
calamitous
Concerning or involving calamity, disastrous.
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  1. Concerning or involving calamity, disastrous.
  2. Causing or bringing calamity
  3. Causing or involving calamity; disastrous.
cataclysmic
Of or pertaining to a cataclysm; causing great destruction or upheaval; catastrophic.
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  1. Of or pertaining to a cataclysm; causing great destruction or upheaval; catastrophic.
catastrophic
Of, relating to, or involving a catastrophe.
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  1. Of, relating to, or involving a catastrophe.
  2. Involving or resulting in substantial, often ruinous medical expense:
  3. Disastrous; ruinous.
disastrous
Extremely bad; terrible:
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  1. Extremely bad; terrible:
  2. Of the nature of a disaster; causing great harm, damage, etc.; calamitous
  3. Accompanied by or causing distress or disaster; calamitous.
fatal
(Obs.) Fated; destined; inevitable
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  1. (Obs.) Fated; destined; inevitable
  2. Causing ruin or destruction; disastrous:
  3. Very destructive; most unfortunate; disastrous
fateful
Determined in advance by fate, fated.
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  1. Determined in advance by fate, fated.
  2. Momentous, significant, setting or sealing ones fate.
  3. Bringing death or disaster; fatal.
ruinous
Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous
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  1. Causing ruin; destructive, calamitous
  2. Bringing or tending to bring ruin; very destructive or harmful; disastrous
  3. Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive:
pernicious
(Rare) Wicked; evil
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  1. (Rare) Wicked; evil
  2. Causing great injury, destruction, or ruin; fatal; deadly
  3. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly:
ruinous
Falling or fallen into ruin; dilapidated; decayed
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  1. Falling or fallen into ruin; dilapidated; decayed
  2. Characterized by ruin; ruined; dilapidated; as, an edifice, bridge, or wall in a ruinous state.
  3. Causing or apt to cause ruin; destructive:
Find another word for destructive. In this page you can discover 69 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for destructive, like: adverse, negative, not constructive, ruinous, noxious, baneful, pestiferous, noisome, cancerous, fatal and deleterious.

Sentence Examples

  • The district is exposed to drought and also to destructive floods.

  • It is useless to suppose that this destructive criticism from within can be neutralized by generously sprinkling the pages of the classical writers with interpretation clauses.

  • Rats and mice, especially the guayabita (Mus musculus), an extremely destructive rodent, are very abundant.

  • Like its Cape congener it occasionally partakes of honey, and is often destructive to poultry.

  • A cyclone which devastated Vavau in April 1900 was the most destructive ever recorded in the group, but hurricanes are rare.

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Words that mention destructive in the Dictionary

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