TEAR DOWN

v. 1. To take all down in pieces; destroy. The workmen tore down the old house and built a new house in its place. 2. To take to pieces or parts. The mechanics had to tear down the engine, and fix it, and put it together again. 3. To say bad things about; criticize. "Why do you always tear people down? Why don't you try to say nice things about them?" Dorothy doesn't like Sandra, and at the class meeting she tore down every idea Sandra suggested.