demolition

Etymology

It is partly borrowed from Middle French demolition (“defeat; destruction of a structure”), now démolition, and partly borrowed from Latin dēmōlītiō (“action of demolishing”),^[2][3][4] a noun of action from dēmōlītus, the past participle of dēmōlior (“to tear down”).^[5][6][7] The Latin verb is formed from dē- (“down”) and mōlior (“to build, construct”), from mōlēs (“massive structure”).^[5] The French word is recorded in both senses from the 14th century,^[2][5] and in Anglo-Norman demolition from 1384.^[8] In post-classical Latin the noun was used figuratively from Tertullian on.^[2] It is related to demolish.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The subverting, defeating or refuting of something or someone: about 1550, in the Complaynt of Scotland.^[2] Etymonline dates the figurative sense "destruction, overthrow" to the 1540s,^[5] and Merriam-Webster gives 1549.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense came first, with the literal pulling down of a building recorded from before 1572, in John Knox,^[2] or from the 1610s according to Etymonline.^[5][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act of overthrowing or demolishing buildings", quoting Swift on the demolition of Dunkirk.^[9] In the plural, demolitions were the ruins left by demolishing, from 1608, a sense now rare or obsolete.^[2][3] Humorously, from 1722, it was the greedy eating of a meal,^[2] and in British sports writing since 1976 a heavy defeat.^[2] In military use it means destruction by explosives.^[10][3] H. L. Mencken noted demolition engineer for a house-wrecker by 1936, and the American demolition derby, in which old cars ram each other until one is left running, is recorded from 1956.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – defeat, overthrow, refutation.^[2][3]
• before 1572 – the pulling down of a building.^[2]
• 1608 – plural, ruins.^[2]
• 1722 – humorous, the eating up of food.^[2]
• 1936 – demolition engineer.^[5]
• 1956 – demolition derby.^[5]
• 1976 – in sport, a heavy defeat.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of demolishing a building or other structure, or the state of being demolished: the demolition of the old mill.^[10][3][2]
2. (chiefly military) Destruction of structures or targets by explosives, often used before another noun: a demolition charge.^[10][3]
3. The thorough defeat or refutation of an argument or opponent; in British sport, a heavy defeat.^[2]
4. (obsolete) In the plural, ruins or remains.^[3][2]

Word family

• demolitionist
• demolition derby

Related words

• demolish

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins