Meaning & use
pull down
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Meanings
verbtransitive
to destroy a building or structure, usually with machines or force.
Grammar: Takes an object: pull down the shed. The object can also go between the verb and 'down': pull the shed down.
Patterns
- pull down a building
- pull a building down
- pull it down
They plan to pull down the old factory and build apartments there.
The council pulled the unsafe bridge down after the flood.
That whole row of shops was pulled down in the 1980s.
verbtransitive
to make someone or something fall to the ground by pulling or hitting.
Grammar: Often used for tackling someone in sport or knocking something off a surface: pull someone down.
Patterns
- pull someone down
- pull something down
The defender pulled him down just outside the penalty area.
She reached up and pulled the box down from the top shelf.
verbtransitivebusiness
to reduce a price, amount, or level.
Grammar: Common in business and news writing: pull down prices, pull down profits.
Patterns
- pull down prices
- pull down the average
Cheap imports have pulled down prices in the shops.
The bad weather pulled down sales over the summer.
verbtransitiveinformalAmerican
to earn a particular amount of money.
Grammar: Informal and mainly American; often used about salaries: pull down $80,000 a year.
Patterns
- pull down a salary
- pull down $50,000 a year
He pulls down a six-figure salary as a consultant.
She was pulling down good money before she quit.
verbtransitivecomputing
to open a menu on a computer screen by clicking on it.
Grammar: Used about menus and lists that appear downward from the top of a screen: pull down a menu.
Patterns
- pull down a menu
- pull down the list
Pull down the File menu and choose Save.
Click here to pull down a list of options.
Word forms
| third person singular | pulls down |
|---|---|
| past tense | pulled down |
| past participle | pulled down |
| -ing form | pulling down |
Common combinations
- pull down a building
- They will pull down the building next spring.
- pull down prices
- The new tax could pull down prices for imported cars.
- pull down a menu
- Pull down a menu and select your language.
- pull down a salary
- Top lawyers here pull down huge salaries.
- be pulled down
- The statue was pulled down by the crowd.
Synonyms and how they differ
- demolish
- Demolish is more formal and means to destroy a building completely; pull down is the everyday phrasal verb for the same idea.
- knock down
- Knock down is very close and also used for buildings, but it is more common in British English for hitting something to the ground.
- tear down
- Tear down suggests a rougher, faster destruction and is often used about walls or statues.
- lower
- Lower fits prices or levels and is more neutral; pull down suggests actively bringing something down.
Opposites
Word family
- pull-down adjective
- Used before a noun for something that hangs or opens downward, like a pull-down menu or pull-down bed.
Commonly confused: pull down or pull off? pull down or pull over?
pull down vs pull off
Pull off means to succeed in doing something difficult or to remove something; it does not mean to destroy a building.
pull down vs pull over
Pull over means to drive to the side of the road and stop, usually for the police; it is a different phrasal verb.
Practice
The old cinema was unsafe, so the council decided to ______.
Choose one answer.
With a phrasal verb, a pronoun object must go between the verb and the particle, so 'pull it down' is correct. 'Pull down it' is wrong word order, while 'pull it off' means to succeed and 'pull it over' means to stop a car at the side of the road.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “pull down”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.