tear apart

phrasal verb

tore apart; torn apart; tearing apart; tears apart

1

: to completely destroy (something) by tearing it into pieces

I couldn't open the box nicely, so I just tore it apart.

—often used figuratively

The robbers tore apart the house looking for the money.

We tore the other team apart in yesterday's game.

We can't agree, and it's tearing our family apart.

2

: to criticize (someone or something) in a very harsh or angry way especially by describing weaknesses, flaws, etc.

The article tears apart the company's handling of the situation.

They tore him apart when he left.

Examples of tear apart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The week that preceded the Truth Social binge on Sunday may very well have been the most frustrating of Trump’s second term, not only because the Epstein scandal threatened to tear apart his MAGA coalition, but because Trump could not persuade the usual people to drop the story. —Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 22 July 2025

Under her husband’s administration, families are being torn apart by aggressive immigration policies. —State Sen. Md Rahman, Hartford Courant, 18 July 2025

The old playbook—focused on low CPIs and rapid installs—has been torn apart. —Boris Abaev, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025

In the process, the land is torn apart by fierce rivals, shifting loyalties, and bloody betrayals. —Matt Grobar, Deadline, 14 July 2025

Rhymes for tear apart

• counterpart
• art
• cart
• carte
• chart
• dart
• fart
• haart
• mart
• part
• smart
• start