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

O’Leary said the rabbit overpopulation has ramped up in the past three years, and that last year, the small animals completely tore up the front flower bed. —Alex Music july 25, Idaho Statesman, 25 July 2025

Yes, go watch those monster trucks tear up the ground. —Marla Jo Fisher, Oc Register, 19 July 2025

Plenty of grizzled characters smoking big cigars and tearing up losing tickets with disgust, not a pretty picture! —David Weiss, Forbes.com, 18 July 2025

The goal of the longtime ban, which applies only to land in the public right-of-way and not to private property, is avoiding torn up streets and neighborhoods during the busy tourist season. —David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 July 2025

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