tear down

British  

/ tɛə /

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to destroy or demolish

   to tear a wall down

   to tear down an argument

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tear down Idioms  

1. Demolish, take apart, as in They tore down the old tenements , or He loved to tear down old engines . [Early 1600s]

2. Vilify or discredit, as in He's always tearing down someone or other . [First half of 1900s]

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Example Sentences

“You’ve been tearing down that road, hardly looking back. You know you’ve hurt us. Hurt me. Abandoned me. And it always seemed like you were fine with it.”

From Literature

He had no right to unilaterally tear down part of the White House.

From Salon

"We want traffic slowing down a bit – there's a school there and there's a care home here on the left, and the traffic comes tearing down here".

From BBC

But simply tearing down a statue or tearing down an empty building doesn’t change this underlying system.

From Salon

They’d tear down the roof of the Neely house and pound at the beam until it splintered in over the hearth.

From Literature