TORE DOWN Synonyms: 173 Similar and Opposite Words

tore down

verb

past tense of tear down

as in destroyed

to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of vandals tore down the wooden fence blocking the entrance to the beach

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in demolished

to destroy (as a building) completely by knocking down or breaking to pieces the new owners apparently bought the house just to tear it down and build a lavish mansion in its place

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of tore down Protesters tore down and disabled enforcement cameras and painted the policy as a civil liberties issue. —

Justin Worland, Time, 3 June 2026 Clashes intensified this weekend as police with riot shields and officers on horseback pushed back demonstrators, some of whom tore down barricades, hurled objects and set tires ablaze outside the 1,000-bed facility. —

Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2026 About that view from the East Wing Nine months after Jill Biden moved out of the White House, construction crews tore down the East Wing. —

Susan Page, USA Today, 30 May 2026 Attendance diminished in recent years as the Wizards tore down their roster in the hopes of accumulating draft picks in trades and losing enough games to win early picks via the annual draft lottery. —

Josh Robbins, New York Times, 28 May 2026 In October, the White House tore down its East Wing to make room for a $400 million ballroom. —

ABC News, 29 Apr. 2026 This is a sharp contrast to the four buildings LACMA tore down, including its original Ahmanson Building, from 1968, and the Art of the Americas Building, opened in 1986. —

Maximilíano Durón, ARTnews.com, 17 Apr. 2026 On Monday, cranes and demolition excavators tore down the exhibition hall closest to the Omni Hotel, dismembering parts of the building that will eventually unlock 20 to 30 acres for redevelopment and a new events facility. —

Devyani Chhetri, Dallas Morning News, 30 Mar. 2026 Footage showed dozens of people being arrested as agitators shouted insults at state patrol officers, tore down yellow police tape and hurled lewd objects at law enforcement. —

Alexandra Koch, FOXNews.com, 8 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tore down

Verb

Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed more than 350 Ukrainian drones over territories both close to the border but also as further afield as Moscow, St Petersburg, and Novgorod in the country’s west, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

— Helen Regan, CNN Money, 3 June 2026
Twelve people were killed, including two young boys, in the southeastern city of Dnipro, where a four-story apartment building was partially destroyed, local officials said.

— Valentyn Ogirenko, USA Today, 2 June 2026