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“demolish”
decimate, demolish, destroy
decimate (DES uh mayt") (verb)
1. To eliminate or to get rid of a large number of plants, animals, people, etc.: If we do not get rain soon, it will decimate the farm crops in this area.
2. To severely damage or destroy a large part of something: The government's budget cuts will decimate public services in many small towns.
2. To severely damage or destroy a large part of something: The government's budget cuts will decimate public services in many small towns.
demolish (di MAHL ish) (verb)
1. To eliminate credibility: The gossip in the office threatened to demolish the reputation of the manager.
2. To break up into pieces or to tear down: The construction company used large equipment to demolish the abandoned building.
2. To break up into pieces or to tear down: The construction company used large equipment to demolish the abandoned building.
The contractors will demolish the old factory to make way for a new parking lot and a large quantity of explosives will be used to demolish it.
destroy (di STROI) (verb)
To spoil or ruin the condition of an object: Flooding in the basement will destroy the furniture that is stored there.
Olivia plans to demolish the old shed in the back. She knows it will destroy the home of a colony of raccoons; in fact, it will actually decimate their numbers in the neighborhood.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group D; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. +
(page 2)
demolish (verb), demolishes; demolished, demolishing
1. To tear down or to destroy to the fullest extent: The people in Sam's town hope the old theater will be renovated instead of demolished.
3. To depress or to humiliate someone completely: Becky, who was 16, enjoyed doing many things with older people and this apparently demolished any desires to be with her teenage friends.
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The old drug store was demolished to make a new parking lot.
2. To prove someone’s ideas as irrational or false: Patty’s mother couldn’t think of one argument that would demolish her daughter’s wish to go to the nightclub with her neighbor's son.3. To depress or to humiliate someone completely: Becky, who was 16, enjoyed doing many things with older people and this apparently demolished any desires to be with her teenage friends.