to knock down
49
3.2
- phrasal verb
- /nɑk daʊn/
- You knocked down a building?
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Watch on YouTubeMaybe we need to knock it all down and start again.
- Maybe we need to knock it all down and start again.
- So we build towers with that and he knocks them down.
- Well, first time they shot that they didn't support the walls well enough and it just went in the hallway and it just knocked the walls down.
Examples
-
Whatever they build up against you -- I'll knock down.
-
Most of the walls have been knocked down, leaving only thick support posts.
Fiction book (2000) -
Maybe we need to knock it all down and start again.
-
Could you step outside while we knock down your house?
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And the people and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
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We're knocking down some walls so we can get a little more square footage in here.
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For example, a child may stack blocks and knock down towers of blocks.
Academic text (2013) -
Brian, Roberta, and a couple of workmen are knocking down the walls in an old brownstone.
Fiction book (1999) -
The hurricane knocked down several trees in the park, blocking the road.
-
After years of neglect, the old factory was finally knocked down to make way for new development.
Synonyms
804
2.7
To cause something to explode violently
591
2.8
To burst suddenly and violently, making a loud noise and flying pieces
278
2.1
To break something into many pieces using great force
190
3.7
To destroy a building or other structure completely
104
2.6
Make something fall by hitting or bumping it
87
4.1
To fall over or make something fall over, often suddenly when it loses balance
73
4.9
To break rock or walls using explosives to make an opening
65
3.7
Completely destroy a building or large structure
52
5.8
To break something into pieces by hitting it hard
44
7.6
Damage something badly, often by hitting or dropping it
41
3.6
To make a person or thing fall to the ground, often by force
35
7.7
To destroy something completely as if by a powerful weapon
30
3.4
To destroy a building so it is level with the ground
27
4.7
To damage something very badly so it breaks into pieces
27
4.1
To completely destroy something, often hopes or plans
23
4.6
Knock down a building or other large structure completely
12
7.6
To destroy something completely so nothing is left
8
5.1
To blow up something using a strong explosive used to break rock
3
3.8
To demolish a building so it is flat on the ground
Make something stop working by hitting or dropping it
Antonyms
How Destroyed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to reduce the expression level of a gene' is a metaphorical extension of 'knock' + 'down' (to bring something down or reduce it), so a learner could infer a general meaning of reduction. However, the specific molecular-biology usage (gene expression reduction via RNAi) is specialized and not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so prior domain exposure is needed for the precise interpretation.
Etymology
Knock down for buildings comes from the image of knock, meaning to hit, and down, meaning to fall. Imagine a sledgehammer or a crash making a wall collapse, so the phrase means 'to destroy or demolish'.