Demolish

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Demolish \De*mol"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Demolished}; p. pr.
     & vb. n. {Demolishing}.] [F. d['e]molir, fr. L. demoliri, p.
     p. demolitus; de- + moliri to set a thing in motion, to work,
     construct, from moles a huge mass or structure. See {Mole} a
     mound, and {Finish}.]
     To throw or pull down; to raze; to destroy the fabric of; to


     pull to pieces; to ruin; as, to demolish an edifice, or a
     wall.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           I expected the fabric of my book would long since have
           been demolished, and laid even with the ground.
                                                    --Tillotson.
  
     Syn: To {Demolish}, {Overturn}, {Destroy}, {Dismantle},
          {Raze}. That is overturned or overthrown which had stood
          upright; that is destroyed whose component parts are
          scattered; that is demolished which had formed a mass or
          structure; that is dismantled which is stripped of its
          covering, as a vessel of its sails, or a fortress of its
          bastions, etc.; that is razed which is brought down
          smooth, and level to the ground. An ancient pillar is
          overturned or overthrown as the result of decay; a city
          is destroyed by an invasion of its enemies; a monument,
          the walls of a castle, a church, or any structure, real
          or imaginary, may be demolished; a fortress may be
          dismantled from motives of prudence, in order to render
          it defenseless; a city may be razed by way of
          punishment, and its ruins become a memorial of
          vengeance.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  demolish
       v 1: destroy completely; "the wrecking ball demolished the
            building"; "demolish your enemies"; "pulverize the
            rebellion before it gets out of hand" [syn: {pulverize},
             {pulverise}]
       2: humiliate or depress completely; "She was crushed by his
          refusal of her invitation"; "The death of her son smashed
          her" [syn: {crush}, {smash}]
       3: defeat soundly; "The home team demolished the visitors"
          [syn: {destroy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  100 Moby Thesaurus words for "demolish":
     annihilate, answer, answer conclusively, argue down, atomize,
     break, break into pieces, break to pieces, break up, burst, cleave,
     confound, confute, contradict, controvert, crack, crash, crunch,
     crush, cut to pieces, decimate, defeat, deny, destroy, devastate,
     diffuse, dilapidate, disassemble, disintegrate, dismantle, dismiss,
     dismount, disperse, dispose of, disprove, disrupt, end, finish,
     fission, floor, fragment, grind, knock down, level,
     make mincemeat of, mince, nonplus, overthrow, overturn, overwhelm,
     parry, pick to pieces, pull down, pull in pieces, pull to pieces,
     pulverize, put to silence, quash, raze, rebut, reduce to rubble,
     reduce to silence, refute, rend, ruin, scatter, settle, shatter,
     shiver, shut up, silence, smash, smash all opposition, smash up,
     splinter, split, squash, squelch, squish, subvert, sunder,
     suppress, take apart, take down, tear apart, tear down,
     tear to pieces, tear to shreds, tear to tatters, terminate, topple,
     total, unbuild, undermine, undo, unmake, upset, wrack, wrack up,
     wreck