do away with
Britishverb
-
to kill or destroy
-
to discard or abolish
-
Make an end of, eliminate. For example, The town fathers have decided to do away with the old lighting system .
-
Demolish, destroy, kill, as in The animal officer did away with the injured deer lying by the side of the road . In the 13th century both usages were simply put as do away , the with being added only in the late 1700s.
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.
Burnham’s team decided to do away with the wooden podium, opting for the new prime minister to give his remarks without any notes, to signify a break with the past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
“I just think that we need to do away with that argument,” he said, suggesting it was being pushed by opponents for lack of a coherent vision or winning message of their own.
From Slate ● Apr. 29, 2026
Such systems, which do away with the need for a rudder, are already used on smaller CalMac ferries, making them highly manoeuvrable.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
Typically new technologies create more new jobs, but some analysts contend machine learning and intelligence will do away with many existing jobs.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 27, 2026
"Well from now on,” said Dad, "we are going to try to do away with unavoidable delay. The victrolas will go in the bathrooms—one in the boys’ bathroom and the other in the girls’ bathroom.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
