demolish

English

Etymology

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 (“I tear down”). Displaced native Old English tōweorpan (literally “to throw apart”).

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /dəˈmɒl.ɪʃ/
Audio (US) (file)

Verb

demolish (third-person singular simple present demolishes, present participle demolishing, simple past and past participle demolished) (transitive)

(literally) To destroy (of buildings, especially in a planned and intentional fashion).
They demolished the old mill and put up four townhouses.
- 1961 January, “Talking of Trains: The Severn Bridge disaster”, in Trains Illustrated, page 5:
  The force of the explosion demolished one pair of piers and two spans of the bridge crashed down into the river on top of the barges.
- 2020 May 6, Graeme Pickering, “Borders Railway: time for the next step”, in Rail, page 53:
  At Hawick, nothing remains of the station, and the viaduct over the River Teviot is one of a number of bridges that were demolished or removed following closure.
(figuratively) To defeat, refute, discredit, or consume utterly (as a theory, belief or opponent).
- 1992, Robert Rankin, The Antipope (page 68)
  The Captain folded his brow into a look of intense perplexity. 'You seem exceedingly spry for a man who demolished an entire bottle of brandy and better part of an ounce of shag in a single evening.'
  'And very nice too,' said the tramp. 'Now as to breakfast?'
- 2011 October 2, Kevin Core, “Fulham 6 - 0 QPR”, in BBC Sport‎:
  Andrew Johnson scored a hat-trick as Fulham demolished London rivals Queens Park Rangers to win their Premier League fixture of the season.
- 2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 74:
  The table opposite me is occupied by a young couple with a table full of alcohol and snacks. In a role reversal, he is drinking Smirnoff Ice while she steadily demolishes a six-pack of lager!

Synonyms

See also Thesaurus:destroy

Related terms

demolition

Translations

to destroy

Albanian: dërmoj (sq), prish (sq)
Arabic: هَدَمَ‎ (ar) (hadama)
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Azerbaijani: sökmək, dağıtmaq (az), uçurmaq
Bulgarian: събарям (bg) (sǎbarjam), разрушавам (bg) (razrušavam)
Catalan: enderrocar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 拆除 (zh)
Czech: bourat impf, demolovat impf
Danish: demolere, rive ned, sløjfe
Dutch: slopen (nl)
Esperanto: malkonstrui
Estonian: lammutama
Finnish: tuhota (fi), hajottaa (fi)
French: démolir (fr)
Georgian: დანგრევა (dangreva)
German: abreißen (de), niederreißen (de)
Greek:
Ancient: καθαιρέω (kathairéō)
Hebrew: הרס‎ (he) (harás)
Higaonon: ginuba
Hungarian: bont (hu), ledönt
Indonesian: hancur lebur (id)
Italian: demolire (it)
Japanese: 崩す (ja) (kuzusu), 取り壊す (surikowasu)
Khmer: រុះរើ (ruhrəə)
Kumyk: дагъытмакъ (dağıtmaq)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: ڕوخاندن‎ (ruxandin)
Latin: dēmōlior, dēruō, disturbō (la)
Maori: tukituki
Norman: dêmoli
Norwegian:
Bokmål: rive (no)
Nynorsk: rive
Old English: tōweorpan
Polish: zburzyć (pl), burzyć (pl), niszczyć (pl), zdemolować pf
Portuguese: demolir (pt)
Romanian: dărâma (ro)
Russian: разруша́ть (ru) impf (razrušátʹ), разру́шить (ru) pf (razrúšitʹ), (of old buildings) сноси́ть (ru) impf (snosítʹ), снести́ (ru) pf (snestí)
Scottish Gaelic: dì-làraich
Slovak: búrať impf
Spanish: demoler (es)
Swedish: riva (sv)
Tagalog: gibain
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: yıkmak (tr)
Vietnamese: phá hủy (vi)

References

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “demolish”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

modelish