How to Use destructive in a Sentence

destructive

adjective

• The school is concerned about the destructive behavior of a few students.
• It was one of the most destructive storms in recent memory.
• She argued that the law was destructive of personal liberties.
• More creative means are needed, and in recent years, ecologists have turned to novel ways to stop destructive species.
  — Discover Magazine, 14 Oct. 2024
• Climate change is making destructive weather events more common over the past quarter century.
  — Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 30 Dec. 2022
• In the United Kingdom, destructive aphids are feeding on more plant species as the spring heat prompts them to lay eggs earlier.
  — Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 1 Jan. 2023
• Breaking a destructive codependency is so hard, sometimes others must strike the first severing blow for you.
  — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 Dec. 2022
• The team spent a week helping the community clean up after a destructive storm instead of attending football workouts.
  — The Indianapolis Star, 3 Jan. 2023
• Whenever the immune system is highjacked by a microbe, the body’s defenses can become self-destructive.
  — Richard Marfuggi, STAT, 22 Dec. 2022
• Some researchers say a psychedelic trip appears to free the brain to make new connections and eject itself from familiar ruts — a tool that could help patients break loose from destructive ways of thinking.
  — Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 2023
• Many of California’s deadliest and most destructive fires were started by utility equipment.
  — Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2024
• The whole, nasty cocktail, destructive of soul, mind, and body.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 24 Mar. 2023
• Over roughly two hours, the horses wove a destructive path across some 6 miles of the city.
  — Rachel Treisman, NPR, 24 Apr. 2024
• The film, written with Jon Spaihts, picks up hours after the destructive events of the first film.
  — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2024
• As a result, the legacy in many ways is very destructive.
  — Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 1 Feb. 2024
• Their lives were ripped apart in one of the deadliest and most destructive wars of the 21st century.
  — Samar Abu Elouf Samar Abu Elouf, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2024
• The men are dopey and destructive; the women clever and thwarted, with all the good lines and the truly depressing fates.
  — Parul Sehgal, The New Yorker, 12 June 2023
• The spilling of the tea propelled the dissolution of the bonds between Britain and her colonies, and led to seven years of destructive war.
  — The Editors, National Review, 16 Dec. 2023
• As the eye moved inland, destructive winds shredded signs and rooftops.
  — Daniel Kozin, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 Aug. 2023
• Given the history of the destructive powers of wildfires, what took place in The Dalles the past two days could have been worse.
  — Thallman, oregonlive, 15 June 2023
• The size and strength of the hurricane and its wind fields, especially the inner core with the most destructive winds.
  — Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 5 Sep. 2023
• Even more destructive are surface waves, which move at about the same speed as S-waves or maybe a bit slower.
  — WIRED, 10 Feb. 2023
• This is the destructive game that Trump is playing, and his lawyers seem happy (or at least willing) to go along with it.
  — John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2023
• This is tantamount to a destructive race to the bottom.
  — Kotter, Forbes, 5 May 2023
• So, there was all sorts of efforts to try and open these scrolls, most of which ended up being very, very destructive.
  — Chris Klimek, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 May 2024
• This was his focus now: people’s destructive thought patterns and ways to break out of them.
  — Katie Bain, Billboard, 13 June 2024
• Large and destructive waves may accompany the storm surge near the coast of the British Virgin Islands.
  — Mirna Alsharif, NBC News, 13 Aug. 2024
• Though nothing was confirmed, those two could have a destructive match at Bad Blood.
  — Brian Mazique, Forbes, 9 Sep. 2024
• The most destructive of the Four Horsemen, according to Gottman, is contempt.
  — L'oreal Thompson Payton, Fortune, 14 Feb. 2023
• The fires started Tuesday and fanned out across the island, growing in size and destructive power.
  — Karina Zaiets, USA TODAY, 11 Aug. 2023

Last Updated: 20 Nov 2024