Part 220

Ps. lxxiii. 18.

2. A destroying agency; a cause of ruin or of devastation; a destroyer.

The destruction that wasteth at noonday.

Ps. xci. 6.

Syn. -- Demolition; subversion; overthrow; desolation; extirpation; extinction; devastation; downfall; extermination; havoc; ruin.

De*struc"tion*ist, n. 1. One who delights in destroying that which is valuable; one whose principles and influence tend to destroy existing institutions; a destructive.

2. (Theol.) One who believes in the final destruction or complete annihilation of the wicked; -- called also annihilationist. Shipley.

De*struc"tive (?), a. [L. destructivus: cf. F. destructif.] Causing destruction; tending to bring about ruin, death, or devastation; ruinous; fatal; productive of serious evil; mischievous; pernicious; -- often with of or to; as, intemperance is destructive of health; evil examples are destructive to the morals of youth.

Time's destructive power.

Wordsworth.

Destructive distillation. See Distillation. -- Destructive sorties (&?;) (Logic), a process of reasoning which involves the denial of the first of a series of dependent propositions as a consequence of the denial of the last; a species of reductio ad absurdum. Whately.

Syn. -- Mortal; deadly; poisonous; fatal; ruinous; malignant; baleful; pernicious; mischievous.

De*struc"tive, n. One who destroys; a radical reformer; a destructionist.

De*struc"tive*ly, adv. In a destructive manner.

De*struc"tive*ness (?), n. 1. The quality of destroying or ruining. Prynne.

2. (Phren.) The faculty supposed to impel to the commission of acts of destruction; propensity to destroy.

De*struc"tor (?), n. [L., from destruere. See Destroy, and cf. Destroyer.] A destroyer. [R.]

Fire, the destructor and the artificial death of things.

Boyle.

De*struie" (?), v. t. To destroy. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Des`u*da"tion (?), n. [L. desudatio, fr. desudare to sweat greatly; de + sudare to sweat.] (Med.) A sweating; a profuse or morbid sweating, often succeeded by an eruption of small pimples.

De*suete" (?), a. [L. desuetus, p. p. of desuescere to disuse.] Disused; out of use. [R.]

Des"ue*tude (?), n. [L. desuetudo, from desuescere, to grow out of use, disuse; de + suescere to become used or accustomed: cf. F. désuétude. See Custom.] The cessation of use; disuse; discontinuance of practice, custom, or fashion.

The desuetude abrogated the law, which, before, custom had established.

Jer. Taylor.

De*sul"phu*rate (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Desulphurated; p. pr. & vb. n. Desulphurating.] To deprive of sulphur.

De*sul`phu*ra"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. désulfuration.] The act or process of depriving of sulphur.

De*sul"phur*ize (?), v. t. To desulphurate; to deprive of sulphur. -- De*sul`phur*i*za"tion (#), n.