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
Criminal trials ask survivors to recount their worst memories to jurors and a lawyer vying to pick apart their stories.
—
Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2025
The second Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer has reportedly racked up half a billion views across all of social media, according to Rockstar, and naturally, fans are picking apart every single second of it.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025
The college student had been attending a class on brand identity, when her lecturer had asked her classmates to pick apart the brand.
—Sonal Nain
alex Backus
cameron Schoppa, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
Israel, meanwhile, steadily degraded Tehran’s position by picking apart Hezbollah (Tehran’s most powerful partner), tearing through Hamas, and taking out some of Iran’s air defenses.
—Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pick apart
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Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 3 July 2025
The second Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer has reportedly racked up half a billion views across all of social media, according to Rockstar, and naturally, fans are picking apart every single second of it.
—Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025
The college student had been attending a class on brand identity, when her lecturer had asked her classmates to pick apart the brand.
—Sonal Nain
alex Backus
cameron Schoppa, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 July 2025
Israel, meanwhile, steadily degraded Tehran’s position by picking apart Hezbollah (Tehran’s most powerful partner), tearing through Hamas, and taking out some of Iran’s air defenses.
—Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 8 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for pick apart
Cite this Entry
“Pick apart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pick%20apart. Accessed 30 Jul. 2025.
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