demolish

verb

de·mol·ish | \ di-ˈmä-lish

demolished; demolishing; demolishes

Definition of demolish

1a : tear down, raze demolish a building

b : to break to pieces : smash His car was demolished in the accident.

2a : to do away with : destroy a filibuster which would effectively demolish the issue — Current Biography … a performance so awkward and apathetic it instantly appeared to demolish any chance of restoring her declining career …— Dave Itzkoff

b : to strip of any pretense of merit or credence demolished her debate opponents demolish a stereotype

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Examples of demolish in a Sentence

The old factory was demolished to make way for a new parking lot. Tons of explosives were used to demolish the building. The town hopes to restore the old theater rather than have it demolished. The car was demolished in the accident. They demolished the other team 51–7.

Recent Examples on the Web

The Supra fairly demolishes these numbers, requiring just 3.8 seconds to achieve 60 mph and blasting through the quarter a full second quicker, at 12.3 seconds, with a trap speed of 113 mph. — Andrew Wendler, Car and Driver, "2020 Toyota Supra and Chevrolet Camaro V-6 1LE by the Numbers: A Tale of Two Sixes and an $18K Price Difference," 16 May 2019 The most thorough way would be to demolish them completely. — Eric Limer, Popular Mechanics, "The Military's Painstaking Guide to Cutting Its Own Weapons In Half," 6 Dec. 2016 Cielito Lindo, for example, was subdivided in the 1940s into five villas of 12 rooms each; the dining room was demolished to make way for a major road laid through the spread. — Nancy Hass, ELLE Decor, "A Legendary 1920s Palm Beach House is a Showcase for a Striking Art Collection," 17 Apr. 2019 Some construction crews are scattered throughout the area, demolishing unsalvageable structures, clearing debris, installing new roofs and drywall. — Arian Campo-flores, WSJ, "Flattened by Hurricane Michael, Florida Town Tries to Stave Off Big Development," 3 Apr. 2019 Wil Myers’ wasn’t thrilled with the fact his first career three-homer game came on a night the Padres got demolished 20-5 by the Arizona Diamondbacks. — Kevin Acee, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Padres notes: Wil Myers hits three homers; Kirby Yates gives up three runs," 8 July 2018 True, he and his running mate, Mark Roosevelt, got demolished by Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci, but that’s beside the point. — Adrian Walker, BostonGlobe.com, "The Democrats running for governor must be wondering when the cavalry arrives," 11 July 2018 Because Germany didn’t score, that allowed Mexico to advance despite being demolished by Sweden, 3-0. — Rory Smith, New York Times, "All Eyes Are on Neymar, but It’s Coutinho Who Is Leading Brazil," 28 June 2018 In the lower left of the photo, cars are still parked in front of the spot where Union Station once stood, even though that building had already been demolished by then. — Pete Corson, ajc, "Photos: Former Atlanta Constitution and Journal buildings," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'demolish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for demolish

borrowed from Middle French demolir, extended stem demoliss- (with final conformed to earlier English verbs with the same ending, as nourish, perish), borrowed from Latin dēmōlīrī, dēmōlīre "to throw off, pull down, raze," from dē- de- + mōlīrī "to labor to bring about, strive, build, construct." probably derivative of mōlēs "large mass, massive structure, effort, exertion" — more at mole entry 4