demolish
/dɪˈmɒl.ɪʃ/ verb
Forms demolishes demolishing demolished
- verb (literally) To destroy (buildings, etc.), especially in a planned or intentional fashion. “They demolished the old mill and put up four townhouses.”
- verb (figuratively) To defeat, refute, discredit, or consume utterly (as a theory, belief or opponent).
- verb To devour; to eat up
Synonyms
Etymology
Attested since the 16th century; from Middle French demoliss-, the stem of some conjugated forms of the verb demolir (“to destroy”, “to tear down”), from Latin dēmōlior (“to tear down”). Displaced native Old English tōweorpan (literally “to throw apart”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To throw or pull down; to raze; to destroy the fabric of; to pull to pieces; to ruin; as, to demolish an edifice, or a wall.
Etymology [F. démolir, fr. L. demoliri, p. p. demolitus; de- + moliri to set a thing in motion, to work, construct, from moles a huge mass or structure. See Mole a mound, and Finish.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “demolish”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details