tear apart

phrasal 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

Those shifts are burning out your leaders and tearing apart your teams. —Dev Patnaik, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025

Flooding tore apart a railroad bridge near Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, derailing a train and plunging cars into the Warm Fork Spring River. —Susan Miller, USA Today, 6 Apr. 2025

Mass deportation would inflict deep wounds by tearing apart spiritual as well as biological families. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025

Radiation from a larger primordial black hole would feel like a body being torn apart, says Loeb. —Madison Dapcevich, Discover Magazine, 21 Mar. 2025

Rhymes for tear apart

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