flatten

flatten
flat‧ten /ˈflætn/ verb1. (also flatten out) [intransitive and transitive] to make something flat or flatter, or to become flat or flatter:
    Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough.
    The land flattened out as we neared the coast.
2. [transitive] to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc
   SYN  level:
    Hundreds of homes were flattened by the tornado.
3. flatten yourself against something to press your body against something:
    I flattened myself against the wall.
4. [transitive] informal to defeat someone completely and easily in a game, argument etc:
    We flattened them 6–0.
5. [transitive] informal to hit someone very hard
     

THESAURUS

   ▪ destroy to damage something so badly that it no longer exists or cannot be used or repaired: The earthquake almost completely destroyed the city. | The twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack.
   ▪ devastate to damage a large area very badly and destroy many things in it: Allied bombings in 1943 devastated the city. | The country’s economy has been devastated by years of fighting.
   ▪ demolish to completely destroy a building, either deliberately or by accident: The original 15th century house was demolished in Victorian times. | The plane crashed into a suburb of Paris, demolishing several buildings.
   ▪ flatten to destroy a building or town by knocking it down, bombing it etc, so that nothing is left standing: The town centre was flattened by a 500 lb bomb.
   ▪ wreck to deliberately damage something very badly, especially a room or building: The toilets had been wrecked by vandals. | They just wrecked the place.
   ▪ trash informal to deliberately destroy a lot of the things in a room, house etc: Apparently, he trashed his hotel room while on drugs.
   ▪ obliterate formal to destroy a place so completely that nothing remains: The nuclear blast obliterated most of Hiroshima.
   ▪ reduce something to ruins/rubble/ashes to destroy a building or town completely: The town was reduced to rubble in the First World War.
   ▪ ruin to spoil something completely, so that it cannot be used or enjoyed: Fungus may ruin the crop. | The new houses will ruin the view.