different between destroy vs construct

English

Etymology

From Middle English destroyen, from Old French destruire, Vulgar Latin *destrug?, from Classical Latin d?stru?, from d?- (“un-, de-”) + stru? (“I build”). Displaced native shend (“destroy, injure”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st???/
• Rhymes: -??
• Hyphenation: de?stroy

Verb

destroy (third-person singular simple present destroys, present participle destroying, simple past and past participle destroyed)

2. (transitive, intransitive) To damage beyond use or repair.

3. (transitive) To neutralize, undo a property or condition.

4. (transitive) To put down or euthanize.

5. (transitive) To severely disrupt the well-being of (a person); ruin.
   • 2005, Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide

     Other girls in the foster home are eager to destroy her and get her kicked out of the place. It's a tough situation.

6. (colloquial, transitive, hyperbolic) To defeat soundly.
7. (computing, transitive) To remove data.

8. (US, colloquial, slang) To sing a song poorly.
9. (bodybuilding, slang, antiphrasis) To exhaust duly and thus recreate or build up.

10. (slang, vulgar) To penetrate sexually in an aggressive way.

Synonyms

• annihilate
• break
• demolish
• kill
• ruin
• waste
• See also Thesaurus:destroy

Antonyms

• build
• construct
• create
• make
• raise
• repair

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• stroyed

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin constructus, from construo (“I heap together, build, make, construct, connect grammatically”), from com- (“together”) + struo (“I heap up, pile”). Doublet of construe.

Pronunciation

Noun

• (UK) enPR: k?n'str?kt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.st??kt/
• (US) enPR: kän'str?kt, IPA^(key): /?k?n.st??kt/

Verb

• (UK, US) enPR: k?n-str?kt', IPA^(key): /k?n?st??kt/
• Rhymes: -?kt

Noun

construct (plural constructs)

1. Something constructed from parts.

2. A concept or model.

3. (genetics) A segment of nucleic acid, created artificially, for transplantation into a target cell or tissue.

Synonyms

• (something constructed from parts): construction
• (concept, model): concept, idea, model, notion, representation

Related terms

Translations

Verb

construct (third-person singular simple present constructs, present participle constructing, simple past and past participle constructed)

1. (transitive) To build or form (something) by assembling parts.

2. (transitive) To build (a sentence, an argument, etc.) by arranging words or ideas.
   • 1997, Marita Sturken, Tangled Memories

     The Vietnam War films are forms of memory that function to provide collective rememberings, to construct history, and to subsume within them the experience of the veterans.

3. (transitive, geometry) To draw (a geometric figure) by following precise specifications and using geometric tools and techniques.

Synonyms

• (build or form by assembling parts'): assemble, build, form, make, produce, put together
• (build (a sentence or argument)): form
• (draw (a geometric figure)):

Antonyms

• (build or form by assembling parts): destroy, disassemble, dismantle, ruin, wreck, take apart

Derived terms

• deconstruct
• overconstruct
• reconstruct
• unconstruct

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• construct in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• construct in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• construct at OneLook Dictionary Search