demolish
Americanverb (used with object)
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to destroy or ruin (a building or other structure), especially on purpose; tear down; raze.
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to put an end to; destroy; explode.
The results of his research demolished many theories.
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to lay waste to; ruin utterly.
The fire demolished the area.
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Informal. to devour completely.
We simply demolished that turkey.
verb
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to tear down or break up (buildings, etc)
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to destroy; put an end to (an argument, etc)
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facetious to eat up
she demolished the whole cake!
Related Words
See destroy.
Other Word Forms
- demolisher noun
- demolishment noun
- half-demolished adjective
- undemolished adjective
Etymology
Origin of demolish
1560–70; < Middle French démoliss-, stem of démolir < Latin dēmōlīrī to destroy, equivalent to dē- de- + mōlīrī to set in motion, struggle ( mōl ( ēs ) mass, bulk + -īrī infinitive suffix)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
NAIROBI—A Kenyan court dismissed a lawsuit by a Maasai leader who sought to demolish a Ritz-Carlton luxury safari camp, alleging it blocked a key route of the famous Serengeti migration.
These stocks hit the bricks at the end of last year, and this year they have been getting demolished.
From Barron's
Or that the public housing she championed would itself deteriorate so badly that, by 1990, the federal government would label much of it as “severely distressed”—and demolish it for having become a latter-day slum.
They demolished Slovakia on Friday and are now on the precipice of finally capturing the gold medal they’ve been chasing for nearly five decades.
They demolished plates of dried beef, hoecakes, pickled eggs, roast venison and fried parsnips.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
