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Glite Dictionary
🔥 To destroy by fire 📉 To reduce work
to burn down

to burn down

121 3.0
To destroy a building or object completely by fire
  • phrasal verb
  • /bɜrn daʊn/
translation icon : incendiar
  • Let him get away with little things like this; he'll end up burning down the house.
  • burn down a house
  • burn down a building
  • burn down a mansion

Maybe if my house burnt down and turned to ash.

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Examples

  • But I come here every day wondering why I accidentally burned down my favorite place on Earth.

    Academic text (2010)

  • My ex-husband said it was like watching his favorite pub burn down.

    Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)

  • Why did you burn down the house?

    Marvin's Room (1996)

  • Did he burn down the house?

    Bernie (2012)

  • "I suppose someone could burn down a building if you paid him enough.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Two months before the record store burned down.

    Joey & Rex Save the Church (2022)

  • The whole place is burning down!

    PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023)

  • His house was attacked and his business burned down by military authorities.

    Academic text (2015)

  • The UDPS leader refused the offer after angry supporters threatened to burn down his house.

    Academic text (1991)

  • After the wildfire threatened the town, several homes were found to have burned down completely.

Synonyms

to destroy
vsto burn down
∞ 1.0

Damage something so badly that it cannot be used or fixed

specifies that the destruction is specifically caused by fire rather than any method
to burn
vsto burn down
∞ 1.0

To be on fire or damage something with heat

focuses on complete destruction rather than any simple flame or heat damage
to torch
vsto burn down
76 6.5

To set fire to something on purpose

emphasizes complete destruction regardless of intent rather than deliberate action
to go up
vsto burn down
43 4.4

To be destroyed by fire

is the more common phrasal form for the same idea
to scorch
vsto burn down
31 4.8

To burn something completely so it is destroyed

is literal destruction by actual fire rather than metaphorical harm
to burn up
vsto burn down
27 3.7

To be completely destroyed by fire

is the common informal way to express same complete destruction
to incinerate
vsto burn down
8 7.4

To burn until it turns to ash

focuses on complete destruction by fire rather than the ashes result
to set ablaze
vsto burn down
5 4.8

To make something start burning

requires complete destruction by fire rather than just causing initial ignition
to set aflame
vsto burn down
1 5.1

To make something start burning

requires complete destruction by fire rather than merely starting to ignite

Antonyms

to save
∞ 1.0

Rescue someone or something from danger

to build
∞ 1.0

To make something by joining parts or materials

How Destroyed

to incinerate
33 7.1
to burn down
121 3.0
to burn
∞ 1.0
to scorch
20 3.5

Surface Forms

burn down infinitive
burned down past
burned down past participle
burning down present participle
burns down third person singular

Morphology

burn + down

The Agile sense 'to reduce remaining work' is a metaphorical extension of 'burn' (remove/eliminate) combined with 'down' (decrease), so there is some compositional motivation. However, the dominant literal reading is 'destroy by fire' and the project-management meaning is specialised jargon that a B1 learner would not reliably infer without context, making the relation only partially transparent.

Etymology

Burn down comes from the image of a building or pile on fire: the flames burn the material and it falls down until nothing is left. So burn down means 'to be destroyed completely by fire'.