demolish

demolish

verb

Definition of DEMOLISH

1

to destroy (as a building) completely by knocking down or breaking to pieces <developers demolished the old warehouse to make room for the new shopping mall>

Synonyms level, pull down, raze, tear down, unbuild

Related Words blow up, dynamite; abolish, annihilate, crack up, crush, dash, decimate, destroy, devastate, devour, dissolve, do in, eradicate, extirpate, finish, flatten, obliterate, overturn, pulverize, ravage, ruin, scourge, smash, total, unmake, waste, wipe out, wreck

Near Antonyms build, construct, erect, put up, raise; rebuild, renew, renovate, restore; create, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, make, manufacture, shape

2

to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of <most of the buildings in the town had been demolished in the bombing raid>

Synonyms annihilate, cream, decimate, demolish, desolate, devastate, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, rub out, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreck

Related Words beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against); blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate; erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away); dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake; blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out; despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize; assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zap

Near Antonyms doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp; create, invent; assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape; bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize; conserve, preserve, protect, save; rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restore

Antonyms build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up

3

to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive <terrorists used a powerful pipe bomb to demolish the concrete wall around the compound>

Synonyms blow, blow up, burst, demolish, explode, pop, shatter, smash

Related Words dynamite; annihilate, decimate, destroy; ruin, wreck; detonate, discharge; fragment, splinter

Near Antonyms collapse, implode