Link Centre Dictionary

demolish

de·mo·lish

UK/dɪˈmɒl.ɪʃ/ US/dɪˈmɑlɪʃ/ uncommon

verb

1.

destroy completely

  • “the wrecking ball demolished the building”
  • “demolish your enemies”
  • “pulverize the rebellion before it gets out of hand”
Synonyms
2.

humiliate or depress completely

  • “She was crushed by his refusal of her invitation”
  • “The death of her son smashed her”
Synonyms
3.

defeat soundly

  • “The home team demolished the visitors”
Synonyms

Origin

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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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.