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Glite Dictionary
to rase the site

to rase the site

9.9
To clear land by knocking down buildings before building a house or shop
  • phrasal verb
  • Archaic
translation icon : demoler el sitio
  • After they rased the site, construction crews arrived to begin building the shopping center.

Examples

  • The contractor will rase the site before laying the foundation for the new school.

  • It took several days to rase the site because of the old concrete.

  • They will rase the site next week.

  • The workers rased the site for the new mall.

  • Last week, they rased the site to prepare for the new office building.

  • Before starting construction, the team will rase the site to ensure it's ready.

  • To make way for the new park, the city will rase the site completely.

Synonyms

to demolish
vsto rase the site
54 3.7

Completely destroy a building or large structure

is about removing and preparing land specifically for construction
to raze
vsto rase the site
17 7.1

To completely destroy a building or area so nothing is left

focuses on clearing land to make it ready for building work
to rase
vsto rase the site
  • Archaic
9.9

To completely tear down a building or town so nothing is left

clears land specifically to prepare it for new construction

Antonyms

to build
∞ 1.0

To make something by joining parts or materials

to develop
259 2.8

To make land or an area ready for a new use like shops

How Cleared

to rase the site
  • Archaic
9.9
to clear away
10 1.8

Surface Forms

rase the site infinitive
rased the site past
rased the site past participle
rasing the site present participle
rases the site third person singular

Morphology

rase + the + site

The verb 'rase' means to completely destroy and 'site' denotes a plot of ground, so the phrase 'rase the site' is a direct composition meaning 'demolish/clear the site'. This follows ordinary verb + object semantics with no idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The verb rase the site comes from an old word meaning 'to shave'. So imagine shaving a field or old buildings down until everything is flat and clear, and you can see why rase the site means 'to clear and level land'.