to pull down
3
3.8
- phrasal verb
- /pʊl daʊn/
- In other words, the stones were pulled down and hauled off by locals for building material.
- pulled down the statue
- pull down that wall
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Watch on YouTubeYou know, somewhere down the road, what what statues are going to be pulled down today?
- You know, somewhere down the road, what what statues are going to be pulled down today?
- We'll get the military to pull down illegal housing where you're going to get a labour force to do the lowest income work.
Examples
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Therefore, the old one was pulled down.
Academic text (2000) -
And I watched the council pull down the house where he was born.
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Maybe it's just cheaper to pull down more houses.
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I had to call my husband home from work to pull down the ceiling and insulation in half of the garage.
Blog text (20) -
The first step is to pull down all kinds of fortifications.
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Bramante wants to pull it down and build a new chapel.
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The solid, high green fence is meant to disguise the absence of all those houses along the motorway that were pulled down for nothing.
Academic text (2001) -
Did you see they're pulling down Dorchester House?
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The city plans to pull down the old factory to make way for new housing.
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They decided to pull down the abandoned building after it became a safety hazard.
Synonyms
267
3.3
Move something or someone from a higher to a lower place, for example land an aircraft
190
3.7
To destroy a building or other structure completely
98
3.7
To make land or a building flat with the ground
65
3.7
Completely destroy a building or large structure
49
3.2
Make a building or wall fall down suddenly
30
3.4
To destroy a building so it is level with the ground
23
4.6
Knock down a building or other large structure completely
16
7.1
To completely destroy a building or area so nothing is left
1
6.0
To completely destroy a building so nothing remains above ground
1
9.9
To completely tear down a building or town so nothing is left
Antonyms
How Complete
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to cause something or someone to come down' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'pull' (apply force to bring closer) with 'down' (toward a lower position), matching a straightforward motion verb + particle composition. This common phrasal-verb pattern is cross-linguistically frequent and follows predictable English composition, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Pull down comes from the image of workers using ropes to pull a building down until it lies flat on the ground. That's why it means 'to demolish or destroy a building'.