destroyer

noun

de·​stroy·​er di-ˈstrȯi(-ə)r 

dē-

1

: one that destroys

2

: a small fast warship used especially to support larger vessels and usually armed with guns, depth charges, torpedoes, and often guided missiles

Examples of destroyer in a Sentence

The pamphlet describes alcohol as a destroyer of families.

Recent Examples on the Web

The operation involved a navy destroyer, a patrol ship, an Indian Air Force C-17 transporter flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos, a naval drone, a reconnaissance drone and a P-8 surveillance jet, the release said. —Brad Lendon, CNN, 19 Mar. 2024

The Navy installed a 60-kilowatt laser weapon on the destroyer the USS Preble in August 2022. —Iain Boyd, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2024

In 2017, a pair of Navy destroyers, the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald, collided with civilian ships in the Pacific in separate incidents, killing 17 sailors. —Gil Barndollar, TIME, 12 Feb. 2024

The attack on the U.S. warship, the destroyer USS Carney, marked a further escalation in the biggest confrontation at sea the U.S. Navy has seen in the Middle East in decades, as Houthi missile fire set another commercial vessel ablaze Friday night. —Jon Gambrell, Fortune, 27 Jan. 2024

The group includes two local warships — USS Lake Erie, a cruiser, and USS Halsey, a destroyer. —Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2024

Then, in between laughs and impersonations and a one-woman show’s worth of characters, she’s asked about a specific scene in Oppenheimer, Nolan’s epic biography about the nuclear physicist and political martyr and the man who would be destroyer of worlds. —David Fear, Rolling Stone, 25 Feb. 2024

Targets were reportedly struck by U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and by the USS Gravely and the USS Carney Navy destroyers firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea. —Lillian Boyd, The Arizona Republic, 30 Jan. 2024

Instead of giving the British 50 naval destroyers, FDR insisted they be paired with a transfer to the U.S. of British bases in the Caribbean and western Atlantic. —Emma Colton, Fox News, 12 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing destroyer

• destroyer escort
• self-destroyer
• tank destroyer

Kids Definition

destroyer

noun

de·​stroy·​er di-ˈstrȯi(-ə)r 

1

: one that destroys

2

: a small fast warship armed with guns, depth charges, torpedoes, and often guided missiles