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

In dozens of declarations collected as part of the court record, detainees recounted broccoli full of worms, diapers doled out one at a time, and staff tearing up children’s drawings. — Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2026

Melinda Sue Gordon The Odyssey is currently tearing up the box office off the back of amazing critic and audience reviews, but the movie has now set yet another record. — Paul Tassi, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Notably, the news comes as Nolan’s The Odyssey, a retelling of the greek epic, has been tearing up the global box office, marking Nolan’s biggest global debut and passing $300 million worldwide since its release a week ago. — Aaron Couch, HollywoodReporter, 23 July 2026

The doc came out a few weeks after Lionsgate’s Michael biopic tore up the box office. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 22 July 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