Synonyms for destructive

Synonyms for (adj) destructive

Synonyms: destructive

Definition: causing destruction or much damage

Usage: a policy that is destructive to the economy; destructive criticism

Similar words: devastating, withering, annihilating, annihilative

Definition: wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction

Usage: possessing annihilative power; a devastating hurricane; the guns opened a withering fire


Similar words: blasting, ruinous

Definition: causing injury or blight; especially affecting with sudden violence or plague or ruin

Usage: the blasting effects of the intense cold on the budding fruit; the blasting force of the wind blowing sharp needles of sleet in our faces; a ruinous war


Similar words: cataclysmal, cataclysmic

Definition: severely destructive

Usage: cataclysmic nuclear war; a cataclysmic earthquake


Similar words: caustic, vitriolic, erosive, corrosive, mordant

Definition: of a substance, especially a strong acid; capable of destroying or eating away by chemical action


Similar words: devastating, crushing

Definition: physically or spiritually devastating; often used in combination

Usage: a crushing blow; a crushing rejection; bone-crushing


Similar words: damaging, negative

Definition: designed or tending to discredit, especially without positive or helpful suggestions

Usage: negative criticism


Similar words: erosive

Definition: wearing away by friction

Usage: the erosive effects of waves on the shoreline


Similar words: iconoclastic

Definition: destructive of images used in religious worship; said of religions, such as Islam, in which the representation of living things is prohibited


Similar words: ravaging

Definition: ruinously destructive and wasting

Usage: a ravaging illness


Similar words: soul-destroying

Definition: destructive to the spirit or soul

Usage: soul-destroying labor


Similar words: wasteful

Definition: laying waste

Usage: when wasteful war shall statues overturn- Shakespeare


Visual thesaurus for destructive