different between destroy vs squander

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

Earliest uses (late 16th c.) "to spend recklessly or prodigiously", also "to scatter over a wide area". Of unknown origin. Perhaps a blend of scatter +? wander.

Compare Danish skvætte (rare)/skvatte (“to splash”) (nominalised: skvæt), Icelandic skvetta (“to squirt”), Swedish skvätta (“to splash”), Norwegian Bokmål skvette.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?skw?nd.?/, [?skw?nd.?]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?skw?n.d?/, [?sk??n.d?]
• Rhymes: -?nd?(?)

Verb

squander (third-person singular simple present squanders, present participle squandering, simple past and past participle squandered)

1. To waste, lavish, splurge; to spend lavishly or profusely; to dissipate.
   • 1746, Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac

     Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.
2. (obsolete) To scatter; to disperse.
3. (obsolete) To wander at random; to scatter.

Usage notes

Squander implies starting with many resources, such as great wealth, and then wasting them (using them up to little purpose or little effect), often ending with little. Particularly used in phrases such as “squander an opportunity” or “squander an inheritance”. It may be used even if one starts with little, though usually in some construction such as “squander what little he had”.

Synonyms

• waste, splurge
• ducks and drakes
• throw away

Translations

References

Anagrams

• quanders