DEMOLISH

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does demolish mean? 

• DEMOLISH (verb)
  The verb DEMOLISH has 4 senses:

1. destroy completely

2. ruin or destroy

3. eat up completely, as with great appetite

4. defeat soundly and humiliatingly

  Familiarity information: DEMOLISH used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEMOLISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they demolish    ... he / she / it demolishes   
Past simple: demolished   
Past participle: demolished   
-ing form: demolishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Destroy completely

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

demolish; pulverise; pulverize

Context example:

the wrecking ball demolished the building

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 2

Meaning:

Ruin or destroy

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

the professor demolished the student's argument

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Eat up completely, as with great appetite

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

consume; demolish; devour; down; go through

Context example:

The teenagers demolished four pizzas among them

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 4

Meaning:

Defeat soundly and humiliatingly

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

demolish; destroy

Context example:

The home team demolished the visitors

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)

 Context examples 

The doctor, with the pick-axe, demolished one of them, and then we all got aboard the other and set out to go round by sea for North Inlet.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Is it not, by its noble cares and sublime results, the one best calculated to fill the void left by uptorn affections and demolished hopes?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A finding referring to a medical device that has been demolished.

(Destroyed Medical Device, NCI Thesaurus)

Besides, you know, we can’t hurt Johnson’s soul. It’s only the fleeting form we may demolish.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Men were demolishing something with axes on the beach near the stockade—the poor jolly-boat, I afterwards discovered.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)