Break
Break verb - To cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly.
Usage example: hated telling her that I had broken her favorite glass vase
Destroy is a synonym for break in ruin topic. In some cases you can use "Destroy" instead a verb "Break", when it comes to topics like help, shatter, demolish.
Destroy
Destroy verb - To bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of.
Usage example: their poor scores on the final exam destroyed any chance they might have had to pass the course
Break is a synonym for destroy in help topic. Sometimes you can use "Break" instead a verb "Destroy", if it concerns topics such as demolish, ruin.
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
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As it turned out, the radio broadcast gave the co-ordinates to the pieces of the Machine that could bridge/break/destroy universes.
Source: Brown Note - It takes a lot of help from Twilight to break her free of it and destroy Loneliness.
Source: Mind Rape / Fan Fiction -
After having a premonition that the Phoenix Force would destroy the Avengers, she returned to save her ex-teammates, and eventually teamed up with the "Mutant Messiah," Hope, to help disperse the Phoenix and break the spell that prevented new mutants from being born.
Source: Comic Book / Scarlet Witch
Cite this Source
Destroy and Break. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/break/destroy
Break & Destroy. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/break/destroy>.
Destroy or Break. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/break/destroy.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "break" and "destroy" have occurred on timeline