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Definition of raze verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

raze

verb
 
/reɪz/
 
/reɪz/
[usually passive]
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they raze
 
/reɪz/
 
/reɪz/
he / she / it razes
 
/ˈreɪzɪz/
 
/ˈreɪzɪz/
past simple razed
 
/reɪzd/
 
/reɪzd/
past participle razed
 
/reɪzd/
 
/reɪzd/
-ing form razing
 
/ˈreɪzɪŋ/
 
/ˈreɪzɪŋ/
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  1. raze something to completely destroy a building, town, etc. so that nothing is left
    • The village was razed to the ground.
    • The woodland was razed by fire.
    Homophones raise | rays | razeraise   rays   raze
     
    /reɪz/
     
    /reɪz/
    • raise verb
      • Raise your hand if you know the answer.
    • raise noun
      • You work so hard, you deserve a raise!
    • rays noun (plural of ray)
      • Rays of sunlight streamed through the window.
    • raze verb
      • They used bulldozers to raze entire neighbourhoods.
    Topics Buildingsc2
    Oxford Collocations DictionaryRaze is used with these nouns as the object:
    • building
    See full entry
    Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘scratch, incise’): from Old French raser ‘shave closely’, from Latin ras- ‘scraped’, from the verb radere.
See raze in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
trait
noun
 
 
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