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

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 On the other hand, Spurs were ruthlessly demolished by the Citizens at Wembley in April, in a Premier League clash which was rather more one-sided than the 3-1 scoreline suggests. — SI.com, "Pep Guardiola Reveals His 'Favourite' Premier League Rival to Watch Ahead of 2018/19 Title Defence," 18 May 2018 Dozens of workers demolishing a plutonium processing plant from the 1940s have inhaled or ingested radioactive particles in the past year, and even carried some of that radiation into their vehicles, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. — Nicholas K. Geranios, chicagotribune.com, "Workers' radiation exposure halts U.S. nuke plant demolition," 8 Apr. 2018 For the city to receive the $220,000 from MMSD, the Logemann Center must be demolished by June. — Jeff Rumage, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Mequon will demolish Logemann Center without help from Foxtown Ventures," 27 Mar. 2018 Like the coastal town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, which faced devastating flooding after part of its seawall was demolished by last week's nor'easter. — Elizabeth Chuck, NBC News, "Nor’easter slams East Coast with heavy snow, threatens more outages," 7 Mar. 2018 Union Carbide will become the tallest structure ever demolished by peaceful means, grabbing that mournful title from the 1908 Singer Building, which came down in 1968. — Justin Davidson, Daily Intelligencer, "The Death of a Skyscraper," 22 Feb. 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