tear apart

verb

tore apart; torn apart; tearing apart; tears apart

1

: to completely destroy (something) by tearing it into pieces

I couldn't open the box nicely, so I just tore it apart.

—often used figuratively

The robbers tore apart the house looking for the money.

We tore the other team apart in yesterday's game.

We can't agree, and it's tearing our family apart.

2

: to criticize (someone or something) in a very harsh or angry way especially by describing weaknesses, flaws, etc.

The article tears apart the company's handling of the situation.

They tore him apart when he left.

Examples of tear apart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In time, astronomers discovered rings around other large planets in our solar system (Jupiter has them, and Uranus, too), revealing them to be made up of tiny pieces of what may have been torn apart moons. — Tariq Malik, Space.com, 30 July 2026

Careers made and ruined, departments torn apart, writing programs turned into sensitivity seminars, political witch hunts, public opprobrium, ignorant media attacks, the whole ball of wax. — Emily Eakin, Harpers Magazine, 28 July 2026

All, however, are seen as helping to reconnect Hartford neighborhoods and the city’s ties with its riverfront — torn apart for two generations by the construction of the interstates in the late 1960s. — Kenneth R. Gosselin, Hartford Courant, 26 July 2026

That has done nothing to help calm matters in a league whose product is being torn apart by internal resentments and external malignity. — Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 25 July 2026

Rhymes for tear apart

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