raze
Americanverb (used with object)
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to tear down; demolish; level to the ground.
to raze a row of old buildings.
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to shave or scrape off.
verb
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to demolish (a town, buildings, etc) completely; level (esp in the phrase raze to the ground )
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to delete; erase
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archaic to graze
Related Words
See destroy.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of raze
1540–50; Middle English rasen < Middle French raser < *Vulgar Latin rāsāre to scrape, frequentative of Latin rādere to scrape
Explanation
Raze means to tear an object down to the ground. Before a real estate developer can raze a family's home to build another skyscraper, he's going to have to cut them a big check. Raze is most often used to refer to knocking buildings down for construction projects, but it can also describe tearing down other objects. You can raze the sand dunes in order to make the beach perfectly flat. Raze comes from the word rasen, meaning "to scrape or erase," and it sounds similar to the word erase, which can help you remember its meaning. If you raze something, in a way it has been erased — it no longer exists in its previous form.
Vocabulary lists containing raze
The Tragedy of Macbeth
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A Tale of Two Cities
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Beowulf
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Raze and rewild," he says, quoting a comment made by friend Claire MacLeod, of volunteer group Friends of Nevis.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2023
A Florida agricultural extension agent offered a solution that seemed preposterous to Burchenal and his son, Adam, who took over the grove’s management after his grandfather’s death: Raze hundreds of sick trees and start over.
From Washington Post • Nov. 9, 2019
Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, a longtime producer on The Bachelor, and Marti Noxon, a writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created the series based on Shapiro’s movie Sequin Raze.
From The Guardian • Jun. 7, 2016
Lastly, Raze and its founders have identified specific patient populations, including genetically-defined subgroups, in both solid and liquid tumors for targeting with one-carbon metabolism-based therapeutics.
From Forbes • Oct. 14, 2014
Raze, rāz, n. a swinging fence in a water-course to prevent the passage of cattle.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
