destructed
Fell to pieces
Destructed is the past tense of destruct, a back-formation from destruction.
The verb appears mainly in technical contexts—rockets or missiles that self-destruct when they malfunction: The launch was aborted and the rocket destructed thirty seconds after liftoff.
Outside such contexts, destroyed is the standard choice.
Violent collapse inward
- bulldozerBladed vehicle pushing earth
- dynamitePowerful blasting compound
- detonationExplosive ignition event
- razingComplete structural demolition
excavator · jackhammer · sledgehammer · crane · topple · debris · clearance · redevelopment
Underground passage collapse
- crumbleFragment gradually
- toppleCause to fall
- tumbleUncontrolled rolling descent
- implosionViolent collapse inward
subsidence · fissure · fracture · buckle · disintegrate · catastrophic · sudden · violent
Utter, complete destruction
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- eradicationTotal elimination of something
- exterminationComplete destruction of a group
- eliminationAct of removing entirely
wipeout · erasure · vaporized · incinerated · pulverized · decimated · vanquished · complete
What stays after most goes
- relicsPreserved items from antiquity
- decayedBroken down organically
- crumbledBroke into particles
- derelictAbandoned or neglectful
abandoned · dilapidated · decrepit · neglected · forsaken · wasteland · shambles · battered
Separate into parts
- deconstructAnalyze by breaking down
- stripNarrow elongated piece
- detachTo separate from
- disconnectTo break a connection
uncouple · disarticulate · unbolt · unfasten · component · parts · breakdown · methodical
implosion
Violent collapse inward
- bulldozerBladed vehicle pushing earth
- dynamitePowerful blasting compound
- detonationExplosive ignition event
razing · excavator · jackhammer · sledgehammer · crane · topple · debris · clearance · redevelopment · rubble
cave-in
Underground passage collapse
implosion · subsidence · fissure · fracture · buckle · disintegrate · catastrophic · sudden · violent · unstable
annihilation
Utter, complete destruction
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- eradicationTotal elimination of something
- exterminationComplete destruction of a group
elimination · wipeout · erasure · vaporized · incinerated · pulverized · decimated · vanquished · complete · utter
remnants
What stays after most goes
derelict · abandoned · dilapidated · decrepit · neglected · forsaken · wasteland · shambles · battered · devastation
dismantle
Separate into parts
- deconstructAnalyze by breaking down
- stripNarrow elongated piece
- detachTo separate from
disconnect · uncouple · disarticulate · unbolt · unfasten · component · parts · breakdown · methodical · systematic
- total destructionComplete and utter ruin
- mass destructionLarge-scale total ruin
- path of destructionRoute marked by ruin
- weapons of mass destructionArms causing widespread casualties
- self-destructive behavior
- habitat destructionEliminating natural living spaces
destruction, destructive, indestructible, destruct, destructions, destructor, destructing, destructs