Synonyms of demolish

demolish

verb

di-ˈmä-lish 

1

as in to destroy

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 & Similar Words

• destroy
• raze
• smash
• ruin
• tear down
• unbuild
• pull down
• wreck
• overturn
• finish
• dynamite
• obliterate
• level
• flatten
• eradicate
• ravage
• abolish
• decimate
• annihilate
• devastate
• pulverize
• extirpate
• wipe out
• devour
• waste
• dissolve
• unmake
• blow up
• crush
• total
• scourge
• do in
• crack up
• dash

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• build
• construct
• erect
• raise
• put up
• restore
• rebuild
• renew
• create
• make
• renovate
• form
• manufacture
• shape
• forge
• fabricate
• fashion

2

as in to ruin

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 & Similar Words

• destroy
• ruin
• shatter
• devastate
• wreck
• smash
• overcome
• raze
• damage
• annihilate
• extinguish
• decimate
• pulverize
• waste
• erode
• vaporize
• dismantle
• desolate
• ravage
• cream
• tear down
• kill
• pull down
• mar
• total
• remove
• cripple
• rub out
• crush
• nuke
• defeat
• do in
• injure
• subdue
• break
• conquer
• wrack
• best
• disintegrate
• blast
• dissolve
• lick
• spoil
• impair
• eradicate
• mutilate
• obliterate
• deteriorate
• prevail (over)
• master
• surmount
• disfigure
• trim
• win (against)
• deface
• harm
• triumph (over)
• rout
• whip
• dynamite
• exterminate
• wear (away)
• vitiate
• undo
• mangle
• sweep (away)
• trounce
• assassinate
• thrash
• expunge
• beat
• liquidate
• disassemble
• clobber
• scour
• scotch
• extirpate
• blow up
• unmake
• slaughter
• execute
• wipe out
• wash out
• overbear
• slay
• sack
• efface
• plunder
• despoil
• fell
• trample
• overmatch
• take down
• gut
• unbuild
• vandalize
• drub
• blot out
• pillage
• cut down
• dilapidate
• loot
• massacre
• murder
• havoc
• stamp (out)
• wallop
• kill off
• butcher
• snuff (out)
• zap
• dispatch
• root (out)
• mow (down)
• take out
• trash
• skunk

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• build
• construct
• erect
• set up
• raise
• create
• repair
• put up
• fix
• patch
• rear
• produce
• make
• invent
• establish
• mend
• assemble
• found
• form
• manufacture
• protect
• shape
• preserve
• constitute
• organize
• fabricate
• forge
• revamp
• save
• recondition
• mold
• bring about
• rebuild
• institute
• restore
• frame
• conserve
• reconstruct
• fashion
• doctor
• renovate
• remodel
• father

3

as in to shatter

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 & Similar Words

• shatter
• smash
• destroy
• blow
• explode
• burst
• pop
• blast
• detonate
• blow up
• annihilate
• ruin
• decimate
• wreck
• dynamite
• fragment
• discharge
• splinter

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• collapse
• implode

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of demolish

Crews completely shut down Line 2 to demolish the existing tunnel system and reconstruct it. — Alexa Herrera, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026

Carey said Hawthorne would have a state-of-the-art $40 million casino, and its grandstand was partially demolished to launch the project. — Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune, 16 Aug. 2026

Stops include Wheatley Provident Hospital, a historic medical facility that Patterson Hazley has previously pointed to as another example of a building the city is working to preserve rather than demolish. — Kansas City Star, 15 Aug. 2026

Due to the high bar required to prove financial hardship, in its 60-year history, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has OK’d only 13 hardship applications either to alter or demolish landmarked structures. — Lincoln Anderson, New York Daily News, 15 Aug. 2026