How to Use self-destructive in a Sentence

self-destructive

adjective
Definition of self-destructivenext
  • This speaks to something in him that’s both self-centered and self-destructive.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Sep. 2024
  • So what’s the key to the relaxed, yet guarded, sense of respect Icelanders hold for their at-times self-destructive home?
    — Hannah Towey, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 July 2024
  • As grand metaphors for self-destructive behavior go, this is a pretty clever one.
    — Chris Bellamy and Stephanie Kaloi, EW.com, 2 May 2024
  • Rage with nowhere to go gets directed at the self as depression, self- hatred, and self-destructive acts.
    — Melissa Petro, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024
  • Blessed with good health and a knack for avoiding the addictions that claimed so many of his contemporaries, Alpert is the opposite of the self-destructive artist.
    — Paul Keegan, Hartford Courant, 11 May 2024
  • Why can’t your friend recognize her self-destructive foibles?
    — Chelsea Leu, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2024
  • What remains is the puzzle of how such an epically self-destructive fiasco could have happened in the first place.
    — Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
  • My daughter, who was 16 at the time, fell into a deeply self-destructive place after her dad died from cancer at the beginning of her junior year in high school.
    — Harriette Cole, The Mercury News, 26 Jan. 2024
  • Here, our favorite red-spandex-wearing Merc must deal with the grief and self-destructive tendencies brought about by his girlfriend’s death.
    — Diego Ramos Bechara, Variety, 24 July 2024
  • While Hayes' Levant is an acerbic, self-destructive, sad-sack of a human being, there's nothing to hate or even dislike about him.
    — Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 25 Apr. 2023
  • How to resolve the uncomfortable ones, transform the self-destructive ones, and nurture the, well, nurturing ones.
    — Nell Frizzell, Vogue, 17 Feb. 2024
  • Roberta’s wild, self-destructive expressionism feels like new ground for her, and the change in mode and class sometimes fits her awkwardly.
    — Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2023
  • This path from being blinded by pain and making self-destructive choices to self-acceptance and love.
    — Holly Jones, Variety, 30 Nov. 2023
  • The actress faced a rough patch in 2008 and was hospitalized for five months as a result of opiates usage and self-destructive behavior.
    — Justin Curto, Peoplemag, 18 Apr. 2023
  • In those days his curiosity was stronger than his self-destructive impulse.
    — Elizabeth Winder, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2023
  • Fewer episodes and less time spent on the self-destructive café manager would have kept the storyline squarely on Rocco’s psyche.
    — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 5 Mar. 2024
  • There’s haphazard dirtbag camaraderie, shared self-destructive tendencies, and heartfelt lines of tribute, and the rest of the record toggles among these states as each of the women step in to sing.
    — Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 1 Apr. 2023
  • There’s something noble about all that yearning; noble and self-destructive.
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2023
  • But the quiet only amplified her most self-destructive thoughts.
    — Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2023
  • The fact the new app has nonetheless attracted so many users highlights the power of network effects and the self-destructive tendencies of Twitter.
    — Bykylie Robison, Fortune, 7 July 2023
  • Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.
    — Sarah Yang, Sunset Magazine, 20 June 2023
  • The disdain for Gaetz is so palpable across much of the GOP conference that some members have begun to publicly rebuke him as self-destructive and selfish.
    — Marianna Sotomayor, Mariana Alfaro, Paul Kane and Leigh Ann Caldwell The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2023
  • The actress plays Stephanie Patrick, a self-destructive woman who spiraled after her family was fatally killed in a plane crash.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 9 Aug. 2024
  • Pétain, always cautious and pessimistic, soon concluded that further fighting was self-destructive, and urged an end to it.
    — Robert O. Paxton, Harper's Magazine, 17 Dec. 2023
  • Training has become a big part of my life again after almost 10 years of more unhealthy and self-destructive habits during my early struggling acting years.
    — Kathryn Shattuck, New York Times, 18 June 2023
  • Infusing the dance hit with a more chill, indie, mid-tempo sound, the pair teamed up to give an entirely new feel to the lyrics, which revolve around themes of healing and overcoming self-destructive behavior.
    — Vogue, 11 Oct. 2024
  • Just as no man may interfere with the self-destructive inclinations of Herzog’s avian nihilist, neither can anyone do much to arrest the deathward drift of the pay-TV bundle.
    — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 26 July 2024
  • Like Al Pacino’s self-destructive character, Saddam and his sons were destined to meet violent ends; the only question was when and how.
    — Gideon Rose, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Brexit is the stupidest, most self-destructive act a country could undertake.
    — Anna Russell, The New Yorker, 5 July 2024
  • Another self-destructive event is set to occur at the same time: Nearly $11 billion will disappear from the Defense Department’s hands.
    — Mike Gallagher, WSJ, 28 Sep. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'self-destructive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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