take apart

verb

took apart; taken apart; taking apart; takes apart

transitive verb

1

: to disconnect the pieces of (something) : disassemble

take a machine apart

While the giant engines at the Waterworks were being taken apart piece by piece and examined for damage, temporary sources of power were sought.

—Jim Murphy

2

informal : to treat (someone or something) roughly or harshly : to tear into

The voice in his head that normally took him apart was cutting him some slack. Every now and then, it actually gave him some credit.

—David Corbett

Examples of take apart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While city officials initially planned to take apart the bridge to allow the tall masts of the boat to pass through, public backlash prompted them to walk back on their decision, the New York Times reported at the time. —Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 26 June 2025

In the case of the Alan Mann Racing 68 Edition, that meant taking apart and laser scanning every component of Ford’s 1968 championship winner—still looked after by Henry Mann—then creating a CAD model to reverse engineer an exact replica. —Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 28 May 2025

Macias also owned an auto shop and has been taking apart and fixing appliances from a young age. —Jessie Schiewe, Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2025

How To Pour out all remaining nectar Rinse well with water, and take apart the feeder. —Abby Fribush, Southern Living, 16 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1744, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for take apart

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