Library / English Dictionary

DEMOLISH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Defeat soundly and humiliatingly

Example:

The home team demolished the visitors

Synonyms:

demolish; destroy

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "demolish" is one way to...):

defeat; get the better of; overcome (win a victory over)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "demolish"):

smash (overthrow or destroy (something considered evil or harmful))

swallow (engulf and destroy)

cut to ribbons (defeat totally)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The cars demolish down the avenue

Derivation:

demolition (the act of demolishing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Eat up completely, as with great appetite

Example:

The teenagers demolished four pizzas among them

Synonyms:

consume; demolish; devour; down; go through

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "demolish" is one way to...):

eat up; finish; polish off (finish eating all the food on one's plate or on the table)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Destroy completely

Example:

the wrecking ball demolished the building

Synonyms:

demolish; pulverise; pulverize

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "demolish" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

demolishing (complete destruction of a building)

demolition (the act of demolishing)

demolition (an event (or the result of an event) that completely destroys something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Ruin or destroy

Example:

the professor demolished the student's argument

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "demolish" is one way to...):

destroy; destruct (do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

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