Search Result for "demolish": 
Wordnet 3.0

VERB (3)

1. destroy completely;
- Example: "the wrecking ball demolished the building"
- Example: "demolish your enemies"
- Example: "pulverize the rebellion before it gets out of hand"
[syn: demolish, pulverize, pulverise]

2. humiliate or depress completely;
- Example: "She was crushed by his refusal of her invitation"
- Example: "The death of her son smashed her"
[syn: crush, smash, demolish]

3. defeat soundly;
- Example: "The home team demolished the visitors"
[syn: demolish, destroy]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Demolish \De*mol"ish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Demolished; p. pr. & vb. n. Demolishing.] [F. d['e]molir, fr. L. demoliri, p. p. demolitus; de- + moliri to set a thing in motion, to work, construct, from moles a huge mass or structure. See Mole a mound, and Finish.] To throw or pull down; to raze; to destroy the fabric of; to pull to pieces; to ruin; as, to demolish an edifice, or a wall. [1913 Webster] I expected the fabric of my book would long since have been demolished, and laid even with the ground. --Tillotson. Syn: To Demolish, Overturn, Destroy, Dismantle, Raze. That is overturned or overthrown which had stood upright; that is destroyed whose component parts are scattered; that is demolished which had formed a mass or structure; that is dismantled which is stripped of its covering, as a vessel of its sails, or a fortress of its bastions, etc.; that is razed which is brought down smooth, and level to the ground. An ancient pillar is overturned or overthrown as the result of decay; a city is destroyed by an invasion of its enemies; a monument, the walls of a castle, a church, or any structure, real or imaginary, may be demolished; a fortress may be dismantled from motives of prudence, in order to render it defenseless; a city may be razed by way of punishment, and its ruins become a memorial of vengeance. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

demolish v 1: destroy completely; "the wrecking ball demolished the building"; "demolish your enemies"; "pulverize the rebellion before it gets out of hand" [syn: demolish, pulverize, pulverise] 2: humiliate or depress completely; "She was crushed by his refusal of her invitation"; "The death of her son smashed her" [syn: crush, smash, demolish] 3: defeat soundly; "The home team demolished the visitors" [syn: demolish, destroy]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

100 Moby Thesaurus words for "demolish": annihilate, answer, answer conclusively, argue down, atomize, break, break into pieces, break to pieces, break up, burst, cleave, confound, confute, contradict, controvert, crack, crash, crunch, crush, cut to pieces, decimate, defeat, deny, destroy, devastate, diffuse, dilapidate, disassemble, disintegrate, dismantle, dismiss, dismount, disperse, dispose of, disprove, disrupt, end, finish, fission, floor, fragment, grind, knock down, level, make mincemeat of, mince, nonplus, overthrow, overturn, overwhelm, parry, pick to pieces, pull down, pull in pieces, pull to pieces, pulverize, put to silence, quash, raze, rebut, reduce to rubble, reduce to silence, refute, rend, ruin, scatter, settle, shatter, shiver, shut up, silence, smash, smash all opposition, smash up, splinter, split, squash, squelch, squish, subvert, sunder, suppress, take apart, take down, tear apart, tear down, tear to pieces, tear to shreds, tear to tatters, terminate, topple, total, unbuild, undermine, undo, unmake, upset, wrack, wrack up, wreck