Demolish — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Demolish (verb) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. to destroy (as a building) completely by knocking down or breaking to pieces

   "developers demolished the old warehouse to make room for the new shopping mall"

   similar: level, pull down, raze, tear down, unbuild
   related: blow up, dynamite, abolish, annihilate, crack up, crush, dash, decimate, destroy, devastate, devour, dissolve, do in, eradicate, extirpate, finish, flatten, obliterate, overturn, pulverize, ravage, ruin, scourge, smash, total, unmake, waste, wipe out, wreck
   near: build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rebuild, renew, renovate, restore, create, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, make, manufacture, shape

2. to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of

   "most of the buildings in the town had been demolished in the bombing raid"

   similar: annihilate, cream, decimate, desolate, destroy, devastate, do in, extinguish, nuke, pull down, pulverize, raze, rub out, ruin, shatter, smash, tear down, total, vaporize, waste, wrack, wreck
   related: beat, best, clobber, conquer, crush, defeat, drub, lick, master, overbear, overcome, overmatch, prevail (over), rout, scotch, skunk, subdue, surmount, thrash, trim, triumph (over), trounce, wallop, whip, win (against), blast, blow up, break, cripple, damage, deface, deteriorate, disfigure, disintegrate, dissolve, dynamite, harm, impair, injure, mangle, mar, mutilate, spoil, vitiate, erode, scour, sweep (away), wash out, wear (away), dilapidate, disassemble, dismantle, gut, take down, unbuild, undo, unmake, blot out, efface, eradicate, expunge, exterminate, extirpate, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root (out), snuff (out), stamp (out), wipe out, despoil, havoc, loot, pillage, plunder, ravage, sack, trample, trash, vandalize, assassinate, butcher, cut down, dispatch, execute, fell, kill, kill off, massacre, mow (down), murder, slaughter, slay, take out, zap
   opposite: build, construct, erect, put up, raise, rear, set up
   near: doctor, fix, mend, patch, recondition, repair, revamp, create, invent, assemble, fabricate, fashion, forge, form, frame, make, manufacture, mold, produce, shape, bring about, constitute, establish, father, found, institute, organize, conserve, preserve, protect, save, rebuild, reconstruct, remodel, renovate, restore

3. to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive

   "terrorists used a powerful pipe bomb to demolish the concrete wall around the compound"

   similar: blast, blow, blow up, burst, explode, pop, shatter, smash
   related: dynamite, annihilate, decimate, destroy, ruin, wreck, detonate, discharge, fragment, splinter
   near: collapse, implode