1) Demolish
To demolish means to tear something down completely and deliberately. In other words, demolishing implies premeditation and complete destruction. It is a close equivalent of 무너뜨리다, 철거하다 in Korean. Take a look at the following example:
- For the fourth time in less than four weeks, Israeli forces demolished the unrecognized Bedouin village of Kafr al Arakib this week. A mix of international and Israeli volunteers return each week to help rebuild, even though Israel insists that the village was built illegally and therefore must be razed (NPR, September 5, 2010)
To collapse means something falls down suddenly and abruptly, a close equivalent of 붕괴되다, 무너지다. Because the Korean words end with "~되다" or "~지다," a lot of people incorrectly use a passive voice construction (i.e. Something "is" collapsed) in English. Keep in mind that "to collapse," not "to be collapsed," is what you need for "to crumble."
- Relatives of 33 miners trapped underground in Chile have held a ceremony to mark one month since the mineshaft collapsed. They sounded horns and whistles as a flag for each miner was planted in the ground at the estimated time the cave-in happened on 5 August (BBC News, September 6, 2010)
To damage means to harm or injure a person or a property, 손상/파손시키다 in Korean. Something/someone damaged may be impaired and dysfunctional, but is by no means completely useless or destroyed. In other words, to damage and to destroy are not interchangeable.
- Three days after 72 migrants were found dead on a ranch near the Texas border, a local prosecutor involved in the investigation was reported missing on Friday and the office of a national television network in the region was damaged by an explosion, the authorities said (New York Times, August 27, 2010)
