carve up

phrasal verb

carved up; carving up; carves up

usually disapproving

: to divide something into small parts

The once beautiful countryside has been carved up by developers.

Examples of carve up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Meanwhile, the administration’s National Security Strategy regards Russia and China not as adversaries or even competitors but as partners in carving up the world. —Robert Kagan, The Atlantic, 18 Jan. 2026

Wet dress rehearsal testing will be carved up into runs, with the first occurring 49 hours ahead of the target test T-0 time with teams getting called to their launch support stations running down to T-90 seconds. —Richard Tribou, The Orlando Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2026

Spheres of influence aren’t—the world is both too interconnected to carve up and too fragmented to hold together. —Ian Bremmer, Time, 6 Jan. 2026

Trubisky carved up the Jets defense, which had a makeshift secondary after several injuries. —Antwan Staley, New York Daily News, 4 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for carve up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup