raze
raze Lexical Profile
raze Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To completely destroy or level a building, town, or other structure to the ground.
"The city council voted to raze the abandoned factory to make way for a new public park."
To scrape, shave, or erase something from a surface or from memory (archaic or literary).
"No passage of time could raze the memory of those formative years from his mind."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse 'raze' with its homophone and near-antonym 'raise': 'raze' means to tear down or demolish a structure to the ground, whereas 'raise' means to lift up or erect.
• Rhymes for raze
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Old French 'raser' (to shave or scrape closely), from Vulgar Latin '*rasare', a frequentative of Latin 'radere' (to scrape or shave), which is also the root of 'erase' and 'razor'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.