burn down
phrasal verb
burned down or burnt down; burning down; burns down
1
of a building or other structure
: to be destroyed by fire
The hotel burned down in 1922.
2
of a fire
: to become smaller : to gradually produce less and less flame
We watched the fire as it slowly burned down.
3
: to destroy (something) by fire
Vandals burned down the school.
burned it down
Examples of burn down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The original location closed after former owner Rodney Anderson burned down the building with two co-workers, Vincent Pisciotta and Mark Sorrentino, in an attempt to gain insurance money in 2008.
—
Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2024
In the fall of 2020, part of the camp burned down in a fire — resulting in the loss of a barn that included office space, horse stalls and an indoor rock wall, among other things, according to a Facebook post.
—Makena Gera, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
Around 30 homes and five retail businesses were burned down in the fighting, local officials said.
—Rod McGuirk, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 May 2024
After its first and only issue was published, its offices burned down.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 23 May 2024
Serbian forces burned down the Halilaj family home in 1999, at the height of the Kosovo war, one of the most brutal chapters of a decade-long nightmare of ethnic and religious conflicts in the Balkans.
—Jason Farago, New York Times, 2 May 2024
In an amazing bout of bad luck, Whitby’s family also owns Betty’s, a restaurant on the Lahaina waterfront in Maui that burned down last August during that island’s devastating fires.
—Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024
One member even composed a training manual with instructions on how to form terror cells and burn down houses.
—Mark Mazzetti Jonathan Davis Anna Diamond David Mason, New York Times, 16 May 2024
Instead, they’re built up and burned down, then they’re rebuilt and improved in fits and starts, dragged into modernity — not without outrage and criticism — by visionary urban developers like Robert Moses (New York) and Georges-Eugène Haussmann (Paris).
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 16 May 2024
Joseph Hernandez, Kansas City Star, 3 June 2024
In the fall of 2020, part of the camp burned down in a fire — resulting in the loss of a barn that included office space, horse stalls and an indoor rock wall, among other things, according to a Facebook post.
—Makena Gera, Peoplemag, 30 May 2024
Around 30 homes and five retail businesses were burned down in the fighting, local officials said.
—Rod McGuirk, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 May 2024
After its first and only issue was published, its offices burned down.
—Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 23 May 2024
Serbian forces burned down the Halilaj family home in 1999, at the height of the Kosovo war, one of the most brutal chapters of a decade-long nightmare of ethnic and religious conflicts in the Balkans.
—Jason Farago, New York Times, 2 May 2024
In an amazing bout of bad luck, Whitby’s family also owns Betty’s, a restaurant on the Lahaina waterfront in Maui that burned down last August during that island’s devastating fires.
—Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 17 May 2024
One member even composed a training manual with instructions on how to form terror cells and burn down houses.
—Mark Mazzetti Jonathan Davis Anna Diamond David Mason, New York Times, 16 May 2024
Instead, they’re built up and burned down, then they’re rebuilt and improved in fits and starts, dragged into modernity — not without outrage and criticism — by visionary urban developers like Robert Moses (New York) and Georges-Eugène Haussmann (Paris).
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 16 May 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'burn down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near burn down
Cite this Entry
“Burn down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burn%20down. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.
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