diffrences between devestate, crumble, destroy, demolish, collapse

Question

sorry for wrong spelling

Answer 1

Zara, you did pretty well on the spelling! I would suggest you pay close attention to that, though, because it can often give you clues as to meanings.

From the group you listed, let’s first pull out crumble and collapse. Their big difference from the others is that they don’t necessarily mean the end of something. A wall of any kind can crumble or partially collapse and still function as a wall. A person can emotionally crumble (metaphorically) and recover. When a news report says someone has collapsed, however, it usually means they’ve at least fallen unconscious or to the ground. Think of all of their joints going soft at once. And of course, if a building collapses, it may be catastrophic, but it could also be just one wall, or the roof. At the least, look for more information about a crumble or collapse.

It makes a difference that devastate (note that one bit of spelling), destroy, and demolish all begin with de-, which often means “down.” it gives you a clue that they’re used to talk about more complete destruction (and there it is again, with a piece of the word that looks even more like structure). When one of these words happens, it’s usually very serious. The thing or person that was devastated or demolished can’t just go on; they will face significant work to repair or recover. Now, these words are often used hyperbolically, suggesting a worse situation than reality, but you should know better now.

Answer 2

Destroy: to completely break apart. Example- The cake was destroyed = the cake fell out the window and smashed on the ground.

Collapse: to fall in on itself suddenly. Similar in strength to destroy, but has the specific meaning of structural failure. The cake collapsed = it was one of those very tall cakes, and it fell over.

Note: “destroy” is often intentional. “collapse” generally is not. This is not a strict rule.

Demolish: to purposely destroy. Example - They demolished the old house and put up four townhouses.

Crumble: to break into small pieces over a long period of time. Example - The building crumbled and broke into small pieces.

Devastate: Often used as an adjective for extreme sadness - “He was devastated by the death of his mother.” When used for physical things, it means causing widespread destruction.