tears down
Levels a building
Tears down means to demolish or dismantle something that was built up.
A crew tears down the old warehouse.
The phrase extends to systematic destruction of non-physical things: a critic tears down an argument, a bully tears down someone's confidence.
In theater and events, to tear down is to disassemble sets, staging, or equipment after a performance.
- demolishesTears down completely
- destroysCauses complete ruin
- dismantlesTakes something apart systematically
- takes apartSeparates into components
- wrecksDestroys completely
razes · bulldozes · levels · burned to the ground · topples · obliterates · criticizes · attacks · mocks · belittles · humiliates · ridicules · wrecking ball · ball and chain · reduced to rubble · rubble · debris · collapse
- criticismscriticizes, disparages, condemns, denounces, censures
physical construction/destruction
tears downbuilds up
Accumulates gradually
constructs · erects · builds · puts up · assembles
tear, tears, down, downs, downed, downing, torn, tearing, teardown