Destructive, a.
Etymology: [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.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Destructive, n.
One who destroys; a radical reformer; a destructionist.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for destructive; he lists it under pernicious.
Where he writes about it:
Pernicious is stronger than injurious; that which is injurious is capable of doing harm; that which is pernicious is likely to be destructive. — from pernicious
Noxious (L. noceo, hurt) is a stronger word than noisome, as referring to that which is injurious or destructive. — from pernicious