demolish

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

de·mol·ish [demolish demolishes demolished demolishing] BrE [dɪˈmɒlɪʃ] NAmE [dɪˈmɑːlɪʃ] verb
1. ~ sth to pull or knock down a building
•The factory is due to be demolished next year.
2. ~ sth to destroy sth accidentally
•The car had skidded across the road and demolished part of the wall.
3. ~ sth to show that an idea or theory is completely wrong
•A recent book has demolished this theory.
4. ~ sb/sth to defeat sb easily and completely
•They demolished New Zealand 44–6 in the final.
5. ~ sth (BrE, informal)to eat sth very quickly
•The children demolished their burgers and chips.
Derived Word: ↑demolition
Verb forms:

Word Origin:
mid 16th cent.: from French démoliss-, lengthened stem of démolir, from Latin demoliri, from de- (expressing reversal) + moliri ‘construct’ (from moles ‘mass’).

Thesaurus:
demolish verb T
•The old factory has been demolished.
knock sth down • • pull sth down • • raze • • level • • flatten • |sometimes disapproving bulldoze • • tear sth down •
Opp: build, Opp: construct
demolish/knock down/pull down/level/flatten/tear down a building/house
demolish/knock down/pull down/tear down a factory/wall
raze/level/flatten/bulldoze an area
Which word? Demolish, knock sth down and pull sth down are all neutral terms; tear sth down can suggest that unnecessary violence was used, or that the speaker has negative feelings about what was done.

Example Bank:
•He has successfully demolished the opposition's arguments.
•The old slums are being demolished to make way for a new housing project.
•Tornadoes demolished trailers and blew roofs off houses.

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  destroy, crush, smash, pulverize, pulverise