do violence to
idiom
: to harm or weaken (something) : to make (something) less effective
They want to make a movie from the book without doing violence to the simplicity of the original story.
Examples of do violence to in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
To quote a passage from this novel is to do violence to its tightly laced phrases of reconsideration.
—
Ron Charles, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2022
The City of Roses put it all on display on a recent Sunday in August, when the Proud Boys, an extremist group whose purpose, according to their founder, is to do violence to their political enemies, gathered in Northeast Portland.
—Robert Evans, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2021
Ron Charles, Washington Post, 2 Aug. 2022
The City of Roses put it all on display on a recent Sunday in August, when the Proud Boys, an extremist group whose purpose, according to their founder, is to do violence to their political enemies, gathered in Northeast Portland.
—Robert Evans, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'do violence to.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near do violence to
Cite this Entry
“Do violence to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/do%20violence%20to. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share