tear apart

phrasal verb

tore apart; torn apart; tearing apart; tears apart

: 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.

: 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 Next to the gas station, RVs are torn apart, upside down or on their sides. —

James Hartley, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 26 May 2024 The second is a twisted variation on Pasolini’s Teorema, in which a family is torn apart by a visitor’s pervasive sexuality and refusal to leave them alone. —

Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter, 20 May 2024 Police methodically tore apart the encampment’s barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and dumpsters, then pulled down canopies and tents. —

Ryan Pearson, Fortune, 3 May 2024 The imposition of the guidelines and resistance to them tore apart institutions, even families. —

The Editors, National Review, 17 May 2024 The mass killings in Daouda’s village and a nearby hamlet in February were among the deadliest in a decade of upheaval in Burkina Faso, a country torn apart by the Islamist insurgencies that have swept across parts of western Africa. —

Christiaan Triebert, New York Times, 11 May 2024 The country was being torn apart by the Great Northern War, accompanied by a deadly plague epidemic and desperation, according to a May 8 news release from the Wojewódzki Urząd Ochrony Zabytków w Kielcach, or the Provincial Office for the Protection of Monuments in Kielce. —

Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 May 2024 On the state's west side, several homes were flattened, smashed and torn apart. —

Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 8 May 2024 Police tore apart a fortified encampment’s barricade of plywood, pallets, metal fences and dumpsters, then pulled down canopies and tents. —

Julie Watson, Fortune, 3 May 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'tear apart.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.