tore down

past tense of tear down
1
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2

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 In Kiryat Shmona, a Netanyahu stronghold near the border with Lebanon, one man kicked and tore down a poster of Eisenkot. — Tia Goldenberg, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026 What iFixit found The best clue so far comes from iFixit, which tore down the Duo over the weekend. — Lena Borrelli, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2026 Bulldozers tore down Palestinian businessman Riyad Mureish’s home in Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Friday, as Israeli officials launched a fresh crackdown on residents there. — Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 24 Oct. 2026 Israeli authorities tore down a five-story building in east Jerusalem on Tuesday. — Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026 Thousands of fans in a crowd of 48,238 stormed the field and tore down both goalposts to celebrate the end of a four-game KU losing streak. — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 11 Sep. 2026 In 2023, the Claramontes tore down the house, despite protests from civic leaders who sought to maintain the area’s heritage. — Vinod Sreeharsha, Miami Herald, 14 Aug. 2026 Department of Homeland Security contractors tore down the first of the three trees on July 27. — Michael Loria, USA Today, 30 July 2026 The French revolutionaries tore down almost all of society’s old structures—including the calendar, the churches, and the school system. — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tore down
Verb
  • In Bulgaria, authorities found and destroyed a Russian Gerbera-2 drone, which was not carrying explosives, in the waters of the country’s northern Black Sea coast, the Defense Ministry said Friday.
    — Derek Gatopoulos, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2026
  • He was born in 1941 in the village of al-Birwa, which was destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • His personal bodyguard dozed in the courtroom’s family and friends section as an assistant scrolled through her phone and his father demolished a Snickers.
    — Luke Jones, Vanity Fair, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Before it was demolished in the early 1800s, his crumbling mansion was said to be haunted by ghosts and strange occurrences.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • Glancing down at my hands, the jungle-green polish from Lima was hopelessly chipped, ruined by river mud and rain.
    — Liam Hess, Vogue, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Filming the kiss scene in public with dozens of bystanders armed with cell phone watching proved a challenge but, luckily, no one ruined the surprise.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • Where cold slabs of ocean floor sink into the mantle at subduction zones, the ground gets pulled down; where hot mantle rises, it gets pushed up.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Moving Money Around The party’s top Senate super PAC pulled down several weeks’ worth of ads in those two Southern states in recent weeks, per information shared with Semafor, saving $22 million in North Carolina and $11 million in Georgia.
    — Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 4 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • Bystander video showed a fiery crater gouged into Military Trail, a major highway, with the pavement buckled and shattered around the wreckage.
    — Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN Money, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Still, the state has shattered early voting records with a more diverse electorate and stronger turnout in left-leaning jurisdictions.
    — Caleb Groves, AJC.com, 3 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • But the party was wrecked on Election Day not by its flawed attorney general.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 6 Nov. 2026
  • Photos from the scene showed some of the train cars off the tracks, toppled over and wrecked on the side of a hill.
    — Angel Saunders, PEOPLE, 28 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • The elder Begay, speaking in Navajo, said she is emotionally devastated.
    — Adam Burke, NPR, 4 Nov. 2026
  • By comparison, the prewar sanctions that devastated Iran’s economy, hobbled its military, and discouraged it from seeking nuclear weapons were a bargain.
    — S. C. M. Paine, Foreign Affairs, 3 Nov. 2026
Verb
  • When they were smashed into molecules consisting of two ordinary hydrogen atoms, the muonic atoms implanted themselves within those molecules and assimilated one of their hydrogens.
    — George Musser, Quanta Magazine, 2 Nov. 2026
  • In Frankfurt, police said Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency personnel and shop windows were smashed.
    — Sophie Tanno, CNN Money, 1 Nov. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Tore down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tore%20down. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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