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

Among Jackson, Flowers picking apart the Colts’ secondary and Henry bullying anyone in blue for three rushing touchdowns, poor Lou Anarumo, the Colts’ defensive coordinator, could not get out of Week 1 without feeling his seat simmering. — Candace Buckner, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026

New Miami quarterback Darian Mensah picked apart Stanford’s defense, throwing for 401 yards and five touchdowns in his UM debut. — Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 8 Sep. 2026

As Kaepernick tried desperately to keep his protest on message, the rest of his life was picked apart, from his romantic partner to his clothing choices. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 1 Sep. 2026

The first at Lord's was only 110 on Friday, and two days later England's all-seam attack was ruthlessly picking apart the top order again. — ABC News, 30 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for pick apart

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