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

The bittersweet reunion was caught on camera shortly after the car was found in the backyard of a Whittier home, picked apart and non-operational, by Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators. —Michele Gile, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026

And perhaps most importantly, the internet wasn’t around for every aspect to be picked apart, and discussions of ever-expanding lore sat in friend groups, cons, or limited forums. —Matthew Razak, Space.com, 13 Apr. 2026

Details are picked apart, reexamined, reframed. —Alaa Elassar, CNN Money, 12 Apr. 2026

Any cleaning tool with a harsh outer surface can slowly pick apart the finish and eventually chip the paint. —Jessica Safavimehr, Southern Living, 11 Apr. 2026

Rhymes for pick apart

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