pick apart

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 life balance between art and commerce suits her fine, though it’s swiftly picked apart by her mother (Choi), who sees little value in her daughter’s job or her hobby. — Guy Lodge, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026

That’s been the story of this third season, one that started with Rhaenyra storming the castle and taking the Iron Throne and then promptly saw her get picked apart by dozens of unforeseen calamities. — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

Five days after OpenAI let mathematicians pick apart Astra's proofs of ten long-open math problems, the same model earned a much less celebratory distinction. — Jon Markman, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2026

The two backs were selected just four picks apart in the 2023 NFL Draft; Robinson eighth and Gibbs 12th. — Colton Pouncy, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for pick apart

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