The phrase "attempt to destroy a" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing efforts or actions aimed at causing the destruction of something, whether literal or metaphorical.
Example: "The villain's attempt to destroy a crucial piece of evidence was thwarted by the detective."
Alternatives: "effort to eliminate a" or "try to eradicate a".
Now that is iconoclasm — a wholehearted attempt to destroy a respected icon.
"It smells like an attempt to destroy a man without giving him a chance to defend himself," Bolt said.
But in international law, the crime of genocide is defined as an attempt to destroy a targeted group "in whole or in part".
"Genocide," defined as an attempt to destroy a whole people on the basis of identity, has taken on the quality of a sacred category.
The attempt to destroy a community through mass murder of men and mass rape of women is heinous, and Isis brutality and inhumanity shocked even other terrorist groups.
Last year's failed attempt to destroy a trial of GM wheat in Rothamsted was supported by both the Green Party's candidate for the London mayoral election and their current leader Natalie Bennett.
The inquiry is for "attempted murder and attempt to destroy an aircraft in relation with a terrorist network".
Mr. Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian citizen, was charged in a federal criminal complaint on Saturday with the willful attempt to destroy an aircraft with an explosive device.
Goodman dancing on a mobile phone in a desperate attempt to destroy an intrusive personal message is physical comic acting at its best.
Jamaï said he feared the harassment of Anouzla represented an attempt to "destroy an emerging business model" for web-based journalism which is much harder to control than traditional print media.
In what has been described by Jenneke Arens as a deliberate attempt to destroy an ethnic group, many of those assaulted were raped, murdered and then bayoneted in the genitalia.
