demolish

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To knock down or completely destroy a building or structure.

   They demolished the old factory to make room for new apartments.

2. 2
   verb

   To completely defeat an opponent or prove an argument wrong.

   The home team demolished the visitors by five goals.

3. 3
   verb

   To eat something quickly and completely.

   He was so hungry that he demolished the whole pizza in minutes.

Common collocations

• demolish a building Verb + noun

Attested since the 16th century; from Middle French demoliss-, the stem of some conjugated forms of the verb demolir (“to destroy”, “to tear down”), from Latin dēmōlior (“to tear down”). Displaced native Old English tōweorpan (literally “to throw apart”).

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