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

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

Mangione's attorneys attempted to pick apart Pennsylvania police's handling of their initial arrest of Mangione, challenging their warrantless search of the murder suspect's backpack and a delay in being read his Miranda rights. —Adam Sabes , Maria Paronich, FOXNews.com, 13 Dec. 2025

Their interracial, interfaith relationship has been publicly picked apart, with white Christian nationalists and fringe conservatives denigrating Usha Vance's faith and her Indian American heritage. —Francesca Chambers, USA Today, 13 Dec. 2025

Irimpen’s research at Tulane helps pick apart these cascades. —Clayton Dalton, New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for pick apart

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