tear up

verb

tore up; torn up; tearing up; tears up

transitive verb

1

: to damage, remove, or effect an opening in

tore up the street to lay a new water main

2

: to perform or compete with great success on, in, or against

couples tearing up the dance floor

a batter who's tearing up the league

Examples of tear up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Angela is slinky, pliable, and hungry to please, all but tearing up the Hays Code without lifting a finger. —Joshua John Miller, Vanity Fair, 9 Apr. 2026

During his first term, he was reported to routinely tear up documents, despite staffers imploring him not to. —David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026

Several Colorado cities have started implementing restrictions on this type ofgrass, not allowing new residential buildings to put it down and tearing up non-functional turf in public spaces to replace it with native grasses. —Ella Nilsen, CNN Money, 6 Apr. 2026

The demand for firearms evaporated and military contracts were torn up. —Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1620, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for tear up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup