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

But Sohn’s naval nativity 75 years ago was also the start of a life searching for those left behind, trying to reassemble yet another Korean family torn apart along with their homeland. —Gawon Bae, CNN Money, 25 Dec. 2025

When the patriarch names his youngest daughter as his successor, the family is torn apart as her brother, a resentful nephew and others vie for control. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 25 Dec. 2025

France, Germany, and Japan had been torn apart. —Caleb Pomeroy, Foreign Affairs, 24 Dec. 2025

These parameters created bubbles that quickly formed and collapsed, tearing apart nearby cells and turning the tissue into a kind of slurry, while avoiding heat buildup. —IEEE Spectrum, 22 Dec. 2025

Rhymes for tear apart

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