| 释义 |
destructive, a. and n.|dɪˈstrʌktɪv|
[a. OF. destructif, -ive (1372 in Hatzf.); = Pr. destructiu, Sp. destructivo, It. distruttivo, ad. L. dēstructīv-us, f. dēstruct- ppl. stem of dēstruĕre to destroy: see -ive.]
A. adj. Having the quality of destroying; tending to destroy, put an end to, or completely spoil; pernicious, deadly, annihilative. Const. to, of.
1490Caxton Eneydos vi. 22 In all destructyue of theyr personis, honoures, goodes, and chyuaunches. 1555Eden Decades 265 One of these two..shulde be destructiue to lyuynge creatures. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 28/2 Unpolitic, and even destructive to the services intended. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. xiv. 64 A man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 318 The Apostle's sence is not the same with yours (but destructive to it). 1712Steele Spect. No. 466 ⁋7 Vice is in itself destructive of Pleasure. 1751Johnson Rambler No. 163 ⁋2 Destructive to happiness. 1794Southey Wat Tyler 1, These destructive tyrants Shall shrink before your vengeance. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, First Visit to Eng. Wks. (Bohn) II. 1 The conditions of literary success are almost destructive of the best social power. 1875Kinglake Crimea (ed. 6) V. i. 252 A rapid advance..under destructive fire. 1882Daily Tel. 19 May, Palmer's bowling proved extremely destructive, and he took no less than eight wickets.
b. In political and philosophical use, opposed to constructive and conservative.
1834Oxf. Univ. Mag. I. 108 The two distinct lines of conservative and destructive policy. 1841–44Emerson Ess., Politics Wks. (Bohn) I. 241 The spirit of our American radicalism is destructive and aimless. 1861F. Hall in Journal Asiatic Soc. Bengal 148 After so much destructive criticism, to have little of instantly helpful truth to substitute in the room of what has been swept away. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 36 His position, therefore, is simply destructive. 1878Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Carlyle 198 Most of us would probably find the importance of this epoch in its destructive contribution.
c. Chem. destructive distillation: see quots.
1831T. P. Jones Convers. Chem. xxviii. 281 When organized substances are decomposed at a red heat in close vessels, the process is called destructive distillation. 1854Ronalds & Richardson Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 284 Distillation may involve the decomposition of the substance heated, and the condensation of the products of decomposition, when it is termed destructive distillation.
d. Logic. Applied to conjunctive (or, as they are sometimes called, conditional) syllogisms and dilemmas, in which the conclusion negatives a hypothesis in one of the premisses.
Thus: If A is B, C is D; C is not D, {ergo} A is not B. If A is B, C is D, and if E is F, G is H; but either C is not D or G is not H, {ergo} either A is not B, or E is not F.
1827Whately Logic ii. iv. §7 (L.) In a destructive sorites, you go back from the denial of the last consequent to the denial of the first antecedent: ‘G is not H; therefore A is not B.’
B. n.
1. A destructive agent, instrument, or force; a destructive proposition or syllogism.
1640E. Dacres tr. Machiavelli's Prince Ep. Ded., Poysons..as destructives of Nature..are utterly to be abhord. 1644Bp. Maxwell Prerog. Chr. Kings Ded. 3 It hath been a preparatorie destructive to Royaltie. 1646Burd. Issach. in Phenix (1708) II. 299 Their confession of Faith..is more in Negatives and Destructives, than Affirmatives and Positives. 1674Penn Just Rebuke 9 Giving, for Antidotes, Destructives to the Souls of Men. 1827Whateley Logic ii. iv. (1836) 118 Which is evidently a simple Destructive. 1856Chamb. Jrnl. VI. 56 The grand destructives of nature are the winds and the waves.
2. A person whose theory or practice tends to overthrow existing institutions or systems. (Chiefly dyslogistic.)
1832Examiner 786/1 The Radicals (or Destructives, as you are pleased to describe them). 1871Morley Voltaire (1886) 4 To the critic of the schools, ever ready with compendious label, he is the revolutionary destructive. |