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 figurativelyThe 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
In Mashhad — Iran’s second-largest city and Khamenei’s hometown — demonstrators can be seen lowered and tearing apart an Iranian flag, in video distributed by Reuters.
—
Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 8 Jan. 2026
Hodges managed to hang on to his baton but then found himself on all fours, surrounded by the mob, terrified that he would soon be torn apart.
—Jamie Thompson, The Atlantic, 6 Jan. 2026
Using detailed stellar fingerprints, the study reveals that this 13-billion-year-old cluster is slowly being torn apart by the galaxy’s gravity, feeding stars into the surrounding bulge at a measurable rate.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 4 Jan. 2026
But tensions between the factions and the two Gulf nations appear to be unraveling the coalition, threatening to throw them into outright conflict and further tear apart the Arab world’s poorest country.
—Ahmed Al-Haj, Chicago Tribune, 3 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tear apart
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Mostafa Salem, CNN Money, 8 Jan. 2026
Hodges managed to hang on to his baton but then found himself on all fours, surrounded by the mob, terrified that he would soon be torn apart.
—Jamie Thompson, The Atlantic, 6 Jan. 2026
Using detailed stellar fingerprints, the study reveals that this 13-billion-year-old cluster is slowly being torn apart by the galaxy’s gravity, feeding stars into the surrounding bulge at a measurable rate.
—Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 4 Jan. 2026
But tensions between the factions and the two Gulf nations appear to be unraveling the coalition, threatening to throw them into outright conflict and further tear apart the Arab world’s poorest country.
—Ahmed Al-Haj, Chicago Tribune, 3 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for tear apart
Cite this Entry
“Tear apart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tear%20apart. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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