pick apart

phrasal verb

picked apart; picking apart; picks apart

chiefly US

: to say all of the things that are bad or wrong about (someone or something) : to criticize (a person or thing) in a very detailed and usually unkind way

You can expect political analysts to pick apart the governor's speech.

The film's critics picked his performance apart.

Examples of pick apart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This was the type of performance to test any dry January resolutions among supporters, who trudged away from Hill Dickinson Stadium in the sleet on Sunday having watched their team dominated and picked apart. —Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2026

Since then, many online have been picking apart her every move. —Charles Trepany, USA Today, 30 Dec. 2025

Veiel, conducting a forensic examination of Riefenstahl’s archives and other sources, picks apart the myth the filmmaker propagated after World War II that absolved herself of any complicity in Nazi atrocities. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 Dec. 2025

Some liberals argued the reaction to Fulnecky’s essay was part of a broader effort to cast Christians as persecuted, while many others picked apart her writing. —Jo Yurcaba, NBC news, 14 Dec. 2025

Rhymes for pick apart

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