TORE Synonyms: 151 Similar and Opposite Words

tore

verb

Definition of tore

past tense of tear

as in ripped

to cause (something) to separate into jagged pieces by violently pulling at it angrily tore the letter to shreds

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in yanked

to separate or remove by forceful pulling tore the book from his hand

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

reattached

as in raced

to proceed or move quickly she tore out of the room as soon as the phone started to ring

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of tore Then Parsons tore his right ACL and suffered meniscus damage in a Week 15 loss at Denver. — Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026 Linebacker Micah Parsons tore an ACL and meniscus in Week 15 and continues his recovery, but is expected to open camp on the PUP list. — Mike Jones, New York Times, 27 July 2026 Guerendo tore a pec in the spring and faces an uphill battle to make the team after San Francisco invested in Jordan James and Kaelon Black in the last two drafts to back up Christian McCaffrey. — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 25 July 2026 Tight end George Kittle, who tore his Achilles in January, is one of four players on the list. — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 25 July 2026 Boulders the size of houses tore through them in the 1999 landslides. — Syra Ortiz-Blanes, Miami Herald, 24 July 2026 Instead, this guardrail tore through the Volvo and cut Hannah’s body in half. — Charles Bethea, New Yorker, 20 July 2026 Seven people were rescued and more than 30 displaced after a fire tore through a New Haven apartment building on Friday, officials said. — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 18 July 2026 Though it’s not shown in The Odyssey, Achilles’ son Neoptolemus tore Hector’s baby son Astyanax from his mother’s arms and threw him from the city walls. — Eliana Dockterman, Time, 17 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for tore

Verb

In the second hour of Thursday’s practice Gordon committed his second fumble in two days when cornerback Chris Johnson ripped the ball out, and recovered it.

— Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 30 July 2026
The ferocious biting and pulling had broken the webbing and ripped the holster from my body.

— Todd Orr, Outdoor Life, 30 July 2026

Definition of ripped

Verb

Then we’re yanked into Louis’s hazy POV, from which Armand is reading another one of his apology letters.

— Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 20 July 2026
However, their anti-tank and anti-air systems failed to make a decisive difference after the Shah of Iran suddenly yanked out Iran’s decisive support from under them and cut a deal with Baghdad, crushing Kurdish morale in the process.

— Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

Definition of yanked

Verb

His teacher grabbed him and ran him bleeding down the halls, in circles, screaming through the school until help caught up.

— Gabriel Winslow-Yost, New Yorker, 30 July 2026
Bryan Kohberger’s innocence claim and the smoky skies of Boise grabbed the attention the past two days.

— Chadd Cripe. Produced with AI assistance, Idaho Statesman, 30 July 2026

Definition of grabbed

Verb

The bulk of the original tale — Lara’s encounter with her sea witch aunt Grace, her emergence into the world of humans, her romance with a dashing prince — is sped through in the show’s first 15 minutes.

— Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 24 July 2026
Prosecutors said Garcia got into her car, pushed her out of the driver’s seat and sped off in her vehicle.

— Rosalio Ahumada, Sacbee.com, 23 July 2026

Definition of sped

Verb

On a moonless night, that Alpha team crept silently from the statue’s belly and wrenched open the gates of Troy, decisively ending the war in their favor.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 15 July 2026
Yet the men are wrenched apart, and the culprit seems to be nothing less than a hostile world, one marked by material scarcity and insurmountable alienation.

— Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 13 July 2026

Definition of wrenched

Verb

That’s when someone from the crew scurried onstage, presumably to take away the microphones and set the stage for the next act.

— Raechal Shewfelt, Entertainment Weekly, 22 July 2026
One rainy afternoon in August, Jean Booth scurried up the stairs of a nondescript Thai restaurant tucked into a strip mall off the highway, shook out her blue, shoulder-length hair and took out her phone.

— Juliet Linderman, Fortune, 16 July 2026

Definition of scurried

Verb

Reid pulled him aside both of the last two days for one-on-one conversations, presumably to discuss assignments and coverages.

— Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 1 Aug. 2026
Kerkering then hit Alonso on an 0-2 count, and after Mayza entered, Henderson pulled his 2-1 sinker to the base of the right-center wall.

— CBS News, CBS News, 1 Aug. 2026