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📕 rednote ID(小红书号)：3881567312

Demolish: Definition, Usage & Common Mistakes (2 meaning)

Meaning 1：raze to the ground (demolish)

demolish 🔊

/dɪˈmɒlɪʃ/

vt.

To completely destroy a building by breaking it down or making it fall apart.

Demolish meaning illustrated by a bulldozer destroying a brick house wall.

raze to the ground 🔊

➕

/reɪz tə ðə ɡraʊnd/

vt.

To physically tear down or destroy a structure completely, reducing it to rubble.

📁 Category：Buildings & Places 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

From Latin 'demoliri' (to tear down), from 'de-' (completely down) + 'moliri' (to build, construct).

💡 Mnemonic

Imagine a DEMO of a building being demolished: DEstroy MOstly or LISH totally.

📖 Example

The city decided to demolish the old, abandoned factory to make space for a new park. 🔊 The city made the decision to raze the old, unused factory to the ground in order to create room for a new public park.

🔗 Collocations

demolish a building – to tear down a structure completely

demolish by explosion – to destroy using controlled explosives

demolish for redevelopment – to clear a site to build something new

🔄 Synonyms

raze (vt.) – to level a building or town to the ground

destroy (vt.) – to damage something so severely that it no longer exists

level (vt.) – to make a building flat with the ground

🚫 Antonyms

build (vt.) – to construct or erect a structure

construct (vt.) – to build or create by putting parts together

erect (vt.) – to put up or build a structure

🌱 Derivatives

demolition (n.) – the act of demolishing a building

📖 Cultural Story

Derived from Latin for 'tear down a building', its meaning extended to 'utterly defeat' in arguments by the 16th century, mirroring the physical sense of total destruction.

Meaning 2：completely refute (demolish)

demolish 🔊

/dɪˈmɒlɪʃ/

vt.

To completely defeat someone or prove their idea is wrong, leaving no chance for them to win or argue back.

Demolish an idea concept showing a hand tearing a paper plan to pieces.

completely refute 🔊

➕

/kəmˈpliːtli rɪˈfjuːt/

vt.

To utterly defeat an argument, theory, or opponent, leaving no valid points remaining.

📁 Category：Behaviors & Actions 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Example

Her detailed research demolished the popular myth that was circulating online. 🔊 Her thorough and well-supported research completely refuted the widespread but false belief that was spreading on the internet.

🔗 Collocations

demolish an argument – to completely disprove a line of reasoning

demolish a theory – to provide overwhelming evidence against a hypothesis

demolish a claim – to thoroughly discredit an assertion

🔄 Synonyms

refute (vt.) – to prove a statement or theory is wrong

debunk (vt.) – to expose the falseness of a myth or belief

disprove (vt.) – to show that something is not true

🚫 Antonyms

support (vt.) – to back up a claim with evidence

uphold (vt.) – to confirm or maintain a theory or argument

validate (vt.) – to prove the accuracy or soundness of something

🌱 Derivatives

demolition (n.) – the thorough refutation of an argument (less common)