different between wrackful vs destructive

English

Etymology

From Middle English wrakeful, wrakful, equivalent to wrack +? -ful. See also wrake.

Adjective

wrackful (comparative more wrackful, superlative most wrackful)

1. Full of wrack or wreckage; ruinous; destructive.
   • 1904, Henry Leach, The Duke of Devonshire:

     As it happened, his destiny, aided by this opportunity, carried him far beyond, so that the new era in his political fortunes which opened amidst the wrackful confusion in which Liberalism found itself in 1874 and the years immediately following must be accounted the most important and fateful of all.

   • 2000, Brian McNaughton, Even More Nasty Stories:

     No longer surrounded by a wooden shell in a wrackful sea, but by an aluminum box in its slot with all the other boxes, he stared at the pinwheel of stars on the cover of his library book.

   • 2010, Dale M. Moyer Ph. D., The Flash and Outbreak of a Fiery Mind:

     Yes, of course, we worried about the symptoms that were suggestive of a compromised health - the fevers and sweating, poor appetite and weight loss, a wrackful cough with painful breathing and unfamiliar lassitude - all signs producing a fearful trembling in the back of our minds.

English

Etymology

From Middle French destructif, from Latin destructivus, from past participle of destruere (“to tear down, destroy”) + -ivus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d??st??kt?v/, /d??st??kt?v/

Adjective

destructive (comparative more destructive, superlative most destructive)

1. Causing destruction; damaging.
2. Causing breakdown or disassembly.

3. (computing) Lossy; causing irreversible change.

Synonyms

• calamitous
• catastrophic
• devastating
• disastrous
• eradicative
• harmful
• pernicious
• ruinous
• wrackful
• wreckful

Antonyms

• constructive
• nondestructive, non-destructive
• productive

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

French

Adjective

destructive

1. feminine singular of destructif

Latin

Adjective

d?str?ct?ve

1. vocative masculine singular of d?str?ct?vus