demolish
To knock something down completely.
demolish in a sentence
- The diggers demolished the old cinema in a day, leaving nothing but a pile of bricks.
- One playful swipe of the dog's tail was enough to demolish the tower of building blocks.
Try an 11+ style question
Verbal reasoning papers often ask about a word like this.
Which word is closest in meaning to demolish?
- Arepair
- Bbuild
- Cdestroy
- Dcreate
Show the answer
C: destroy. The other three mean the opposite of demolish.
Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to demolish?
- Adestroy
- Bwreck
- Cbuild
- Dflatten
Show the answer
C: build. The other three mean nearly the same as demolish.
Words that mean something similar
destroy, wreck, flatten
Words that mean the opposite
build, create, repair
More words about movement & action
- descend: To go or climb down.
- devour: To eat something quickly and greedily.
- dexterous: Very skilful and quick with your hands.
- disperse: To scatter and go off in different directions.
- effortless: Done easily, without seeming to try hard at all.
- elevate: To lift something up to a higher position.
- elude: To cleverly escape from or avoid someone.
- embark: To begin a journey or a big new activity.
More words to explore
Sitting the 11+ in Kent, Medway or Buckinghamshire?
Plain-English guides to each test, from the councils’ own pages: Kent Test · Medway Test · Bucks Secondary Transfer Test