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
- razer noun
- unrazed adjective
Etymology
Origin of raze
1540–50; Middle English rasen < Middle French raser < *Vulgar Latin rāsāre to scrape, frequentative of Latin rādere to scrape
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.
In 2021 the Chicago Bears signed a purchase agreement for land at a former racetrack in nearby Arlington Heights, with the intention of razing the existing facility and building a new stadium.
He razed the house where he grew up and built his restaurant on the land where his father had been a roadside vendor.
So Straus, in his first full season as coach, and Parsons, 15 months into his job as sporting director, decided to raze the club and its sad history and start over.
From Los Angeles Times
Paramount would not look to raze its celebrated studio lot — the oldest operating film studio in Los Angeles — because of various restrictions on historic buildings there.
From Los Angeles Times
The two largest blazes—the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire—ripped through entire communities, razing hundreds of properties, many of which remain nothing more than empty lots.
From MarketWatch
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.
