destructive

/dɪsˈɾrəkɾɪv/

/dɪsˈtrʌktɪv/

If something causes a lot of damage, you can talk about its destructive force or power. Something is destructive when it really messes things up.

The word destructive comes from the Latin destruere which means literally to unbuild. In addition to describing a storm or battle, the word can be used for the things people say as well as do. If your mother's comments about your weight cause you to eat more bon bons, you could say that her remarks were destructive to your diet.

Definitions of destructive

1. adjective

   causing destruction or much damage
   “a policy that is destructive to the economy”

   “destructive criticism”

   synonyms:

   annihilating, annihilative, devastating, withering

   wreaking or capable of wreaking complete destruction

   blasting, ruinous

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

   cataclysmal, cataclysmic

   severely destructive

   caustic, corrosive, erosive, mordant, vitriolic

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

   crushing, devastating

   physically or spiritually devastating; often used in combination

   damaging, negative

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

   erosive

   wearing away by friction

   iconoclastic

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

   ravaging

   ruinously destructive and wasting

   soul-destroying

   destructive to the spirit or soul

   wasteful

   laying waste

   harmful

   causing or capable of causing harm

   negative

   characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features

   antonyms:

   constructive

   constructing or tending to construct or improve or promote development

   creative

   promoting construction or creation

   formative, plastic, shaping

   forming or capable of forming or molding or fashioning

   formative

   capable of forming new cells and tissues

   inferential

   based on interpretation; not directly expressed

   reconstructive, rehabilitative

   helping to restore to good condition

   structural

   concerned with systematic structure in a particular field of study

   positive

   characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.