raze

or rase

[reyz]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR raze ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), razed, raz·ing.

to tear down; demolish; level to the ground: to raze a row of old buildings.

to shave or scrape off.

Origin of raze

1540–50; Middle English rasen < Middle French raser < *Vulgar Latin rāsāre to scrape, frequentative of Latin rādere to scrape

Related formsraz·er, nounun·razed, adjective

Can be confusedraze raise

Synonym study

1. See destroy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for raze

obliterate, topple, demolish, overthrow, wreck, erase, smash, destroy, extinguish, bulldoze, scatter, dynamite, wrack, bomb, reduce, extirpate, capsize, total, zap, subvert

Examples from the Web for raze

Contemporary Examples of raze

In 1999, Mayor Dennis Archer sent in his own team of bulldozers to raze the art, but the artist stayed put and rebuilt.
Who Is Burning Down Detroit’s World-Famous Street Art?
James Fassinger
March 14, 2014

Historical Examples of raze

What, could it be true that they were going to fight again, were going to burn and raze Sedan!
The Downfall
Emile Zola
Here an awful blast swept the house, as if to raze it to its foundations.
My New Curate
P.A. Sheehan
There were 2,000 houses to raze and new structures to be built.
The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado
Logan Marshall
The only absolutely safe plan is to raze them from the earth.
Semiramis and Other Plays
Olive Tilford Dargan
Then the army was set to work, to raze the city to the ground.
For the Temple
G. A. Henty

British Dictionary definitions for raze

raze

rase

verb (tr)

to demolish (a town, buildings, etc) completely; level (esp in the phrase raze to the ground)

to delete; erase

archaic to graze

Derived Formsrazer or raser, noun

Word Origin for raze

C16: from Old French raser from Latin rādere to scrape

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for raze

1540s, alteration of racen "pull or knock down" (a building or town), from earlier rasen (14c.) "to scratch, slash, scrape, erase," from Old French raser "to scrape, shave" (see rase). Related: Razed; razing.