How to Use self-destructive in a Sentence

self-destructive

adjective
  • And maybe that is self-destructive.
    — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Weirdest of all is the self-destructive way these trees grew.
    — New Atlas, 2 Jan. 2025
  • This speaks to something in him that’s both self-centered and self-destructive.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 1 Sep. 2024
  • What is wrong with this upside down, self-destructive picture?
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 30 Jan. 2025
  • The record is at once sensual, self-destructive, and lovelorn.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 15 Dec. 2025
  • Why can’t your friend recognize her self-destructive foibles?
    — Chelsea Leu, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 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
  • We’re now engaged in a pointless and self-destructive trade fight with our two neighbors.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Watch for self-destructive patterns that can emerge when stress goes unprocessed.
    — Kirah Tabourn, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Mar. 2026
  • What ensued, though, was volatile, self-destructive, mayhem.
    — Amy Lawrence, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2026
  • The other shocking thing to me was how self-destructive behaviors were framed as self growth.
    — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 25 Nov. 2025
  • Her daughter went through substance abuse and self-destructive behaviors as a teen.
    — R. Eric Thomas, Denver Post, 5 June 2025
  • In those days his curiosity was stronger than his self-destructive impulse.
    — Elizabeth Winder, Rolling Stone, 24 July 2023
  • How does an economy fall into such a self-destructive cycle?
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Williams seemed consumed with how to ensure this wasn’t all a self-destructive, highly dangerous waste of time.
    — Joshua Kaplan, ProPublica, 4 Jan. 2025
  • There’s something noble about all that yearning; noble and self-destructive.
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Mar. 2023
  • That too many people pursue self-destructive paths for example.
    — Dana Taylor, USA Today, 23 June 2026
  • But the quiet only amplified her most self-destructive thoughts.
    — Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2023
  • Rage with nowhere to go gets directed at the self as depression, self- hatred, and self-destructive acts.
    — Melissa Petro, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024
  • Fincher makes clear that this loser subculture is self-destructive and uncool.
    — Stephen Kearse, The Atlantic, 15 Oct. 2024
  • This path from being blinded by pain and making self-destructive choices to self-acceptance and love.
    — Holly Jones, Variety, 30 Nov. 2023
  • 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
  • Yet now that substantial success seems to have given birth to a self-destructive fantasy.
    — Benjamin Mazer, The Atlantic, 17 June 2025
  • In other cases, however, the cells don’t follow this self-destructive route.
    — Lucy Notarantonio, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
  • 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
  • Coping can look messy or self-destructive, but these are often survival strategies, not conscious choices.
    — Liza Barros-Lane, The Conversation, 17 July 2025
  • The scene is Industry at its chaotic best, Harper at her self-destructive worst.
    — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Meanwhile, Curtis loves his wife and children but is being overwhelmed by his self-destructive ways.
    — Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 1 Apr. 2026
  • All of her family members seem to question her commitment to staying off her self-destructive path.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Your husband is addicted to alcohol and nicotine and is self-destructive.
    — Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2025

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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