Meaning of soul-destroying | Babel Free

Definitions

Causing erosion of moral fortitude or that eliminates hope or motivation

Equivalents

Examples

“War is a soul-destroying experience⟳ for soldiers: you're never the same easy-going person after you've killed.”

“The daily rat race⟳ is soul-destroying: you soon give⟳ up all aspirations and just try⟳ to survive⟳ the boredom.”

“The results of such excessive concentration and production are, sooner or later, huge, soul-destroying Trusts, immense national rivalries, and appalling bloody wars largely occasioned by the existence and ever-growing needs of such insatiable machines.”

“A spate of graffiti attacks on West Midlands Railway trains has prompted the operator to warn⟳ vandals that they are posing a risk⟳ to public health. [...] "At a time when our cleaning teams are working extremely hard in challenging conditions, it is soul-destroying for them to face⟳ this pointless additional workload just to get⟳ carriages back on the tracks.”

“Generative AI won’t be the end⟳ of employment, we are told, only “boring work⟳” – with chatbots helpfully doing all the soul-destroying, repetitive tasks and humans merely supervising them.”

“The Harry Potter star, who has not acted in a film since 2018, says she found promotion duties ‘soul-destroying’ but is now ‘maybe the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been’”

CEFR level