From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdemolishde‧mol‧ish /dɪˈmɒlɪʃ $ dɪˈmɑː-/ ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 DESTROYto completely destroy a building The entire east wing of the building was demolished in the fire.► see thesaurus at destroy2 PROVEto prove that an idea or opinion is completely wrong He demolished my argument in minutes.3 to end or ruin something completely These ants can demolish large areas of forest.4 to defeat someone very easily Miami demolished Texas 46–3.5 EAT especially British English informal to eat all of something very quickly He demolished a second helping of pie.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
demolish• Eventually, in 1997, the apartment block was demolished.• And there: the flat-Earth hypothesis is demolished.• In the end the matter was resolved amicably and Springtown was cleared of residents and demolished.• The half-hour show uses these to the fullest, setting up straw man after straw man for Daria to demolish.• I've seen Marian demolish a big box of chocolates in one sitting!• It would not be difficult to demolish a theory that was so obviously a load of rubbish.• These stones were removed when this monument was demolished and built in steps in the east wing of the villa.• There was a time when the response "that's a value judgement" would have demolished any argument in the educational field.• His house and studio were demolished more than a century ago.• The decision demolishes part of the city's civil rights legislation.• Miami demolished Texas 46-3.• The kids demolished the cake and then ran back outside to play.• When they demolished the church, a cave was discovered beneath it.• Several houses were demolished to make way for the new road.• However the planners never allowed it to open and the building is set to be demolished within the next few weeks.Origin demolish (1500-1600) Old French demolir, from Latin moliri “to build” 