What is the Meaning of “Demoed” in Construction?

Vocabulary / By

“Demoed” in construction refers to demolishing a building or structure. It’s an abbreviated past tense of the verb, “to demolish.” For newcomers to English, this can be confusing because “demoed” is also the past tense of the verb, “to demonstrate.”

Therefore, you will have to consider the surrounding words. It isn’t hard, but you must pay attention to certain clues.

What Is the Meaning of “to Demolish?”

“Demolish” is a verb or action, that means to destroy, knock down, raze or pull. As a side note, people who work in construction will use the command “pull it” to initiate the “demo.” Therefore, “demo” or “demoed” can reference either the verb “to demolish” or the noun “demolition.”

When the engineers demoed the parking structure, it came down in a free-fall time of 11 seconds.

Some people believe Israel, the US, and Saudi Arabia demoed the Twin Towers in NYC on 9/11.

They demoed buildings live on TV, but not anymore.

What Is the Meaning of “to Demonstrate?”

It’s important to understand both “demolish” and “demonstrate” to gain clarity around “demoed.” To “demonstrate,” means to show, display, illustrate, or present. People say “demoed” for this as well.

The esthetician demoed how to conduct the 10-step Korean skincare regimen.

When the sales representative came to the house, he demoed the new vacuum cleaner.

The doctors demoed to the children how smoking is bad by showing them a picture of decrepit lungs.

Spotting the Difference

To understand which version of “demoed” is in the context of the sentence, you have to study the words around it. For construction, there will be words like:

  • Building
  • Structure
  • Tower
  • House
  • Parking Lot
  • Factory

However, in some cases, these words will not be enough. For instance, take the second sample sentence from the explanation for “demonstrate:”

When the sales representative came to the house, he demoed the new vacuum cleaner.

The word “house” is in the sentence, but the sales rep didn’t demolish the house, he demonstrated the vacuum cleaner. Ergo, for “demoed” to refer to construction, the object of the verb will be of the utmost importance.

Conclusion

“Demoed” in construction refers directly to the act of demolishing some type of building. But, it can get a little confusing since people will also say “demoed” to indicate the act of demonstrating something. Therefore, the surrounding words will be imperative.

 

Conor
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