destructive

Etymology

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

adj

  1. Causing destruction; damaging.
    After rescuing his estranged daughter in the last film, Live Free Or Die Hard, Willis heads to Russia to rescue his estranged son (Jai Courtney), a CIA agent on a mission to protect a whistleblower (Sebastian Koch) from a corrupt government official (Sergei Kolesnikov) with no shortage of destructive resources at his disposal. February 14, 2013, Scott Tobias, “Film: Reviews: A Good Day To Die Hard”, in The Onion AV Club
  2. Causing breakdown or disassembly.
    Catabolism is a destructive metabolism that involves the breakdown of molecules and release of energy.
  3. (computing) Lossy; causing irreversible change.
    Blurring an image is a destructive operation, but rotating an image is not.

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