Synonyms

tore

¹ American

[tawr, tohr] / tɔr, toʊr /

verb

simple past tense of tear.
Nonstandard. a past participle of tear.

tore ² American

[tawr, tohr] / tɔr, toʊr /

noun

a torus.

tore ¹ British

/ tɔː /

verb

the past tense of tear 1

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

tore ² British

/ tɔː /

noun

architect another name for torus

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of tore

< French < Latin torus

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

tore

Shorter said the Destination Crenshaw team tore up the streets in front of his church in 2023, which removed parking for his parishioners.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

The video was taken on Thursday night by sombody helping in the aftermath, after multiple fires tore through the West Midlands.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Ford put the EcoBoost through its torture test simulating 160,000 miles and over 10 years of use, then at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show, tore it down for the public to prove its durability.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Its location was exposed only when it tore apart a passing star, producing a brief but powerful burst of light.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 6, 2026

Poking a finger in one of the holes in my britches, I said, “I was running from those monkeys, Papa. I guess I got hung up in the bushes and tore my clothes a little.”

From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023