burn down

phrasal verb

burned down or burnt down; burning down; burns down

of a building or other structure : to be destroyed by fire

The hotel burned down in 1922.

of a fire : to become smaller : to gradually produce less and less flame

We watched the fire as it slowly burned down.

: to destroy (something) by fire

Vandals burned down the school.

burned it down

Examples of burn down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The SouthPark church was burned down, Johnson said. —

Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 15 July 2024 Neither fire burned down any buildings or injured anyone, officials said. —

Rick Hurd, The Mercury News, 4 July 2024 The attackers struck a police station and four places of worship in two Dagestani cities, demonstratively executing an Orthodox priest and burning down the only synagogue in the ancient city of Derbent. —

Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 June 2024 While the singer hasn't officially confirmed that her song is about Hemsworth, the lyric about a home burning seems like a pretty direct reference to their Malibu house burning down in 2018. —

Dylan Kickham, EW.com, 26 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for burn down

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'burn down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.