Crossword Dictionary
DEMOLISH
demolish, destroy - v
defeat soundly; "The home team demolished the visitors"
Synonyms
annihilate, bulldoze, crush, decimate, devastate, dilapidate, dismantle, flatten, obliterate, overturn, pulverize, raze, ruin, smash, smash up, trash, wreck
Examples
The myth that Japan is not open to concerns from outside has, I think, been demolished at a stroke.
These copies were found as we checked the rooms for the final time before demolishing the building.
The forward part of the fuselage had hit the side wall of the farmhouse and demolished the whole building.
Etymology
1560s, "to destroy the structural character of (a building, wall, etc.), by violently pulling it to pieces," from French demoliss-, present-participle stem of démolir "to destroy, tear down" (late 14c.), from Latin demoliri "tear down," from de "down" (see de-) + moliri "build, construct," from moles (genitive molis) "massive structure" (see mole (n.3)). Figurative sense of "to destroy, lay waste" is from 1610s; humorously, "to consume," by 1756. Related: Demolished; demolishing.