take apart
Britishverb
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to separate (something) into component parts
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to criticize or punish severely
the reviewers took the new play apart
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Dismantle or disassemble, as in They had to take apart the stereo before they could move it . This usage was first recorded in 1936.
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Examine thoroughly, analyze or dissect, as in The teacher embarrassed Tom by taking his thesis apart in front of the class . [Mid-1900s]
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Beat up, thrash, as in You'd better be careful; those boys will take you apart . [ Slang ; mid-1900s]
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.
"You have to make things easy to take apart, so that people clean them. The bottom line is, if it's not easy to take apart, you don't clean it."
From BBC
"We wanted to take apart these coded messages and figure out which molecules were, themselves, therapeutic."
From Science Daily
However, recycling vapes is not straightforward because of their size and the way they are manufactured, making them difficult to take apart.
From BBC
See above, with added mustard of being taken apart by Head.
From BBC
Before we went home, we watched for a while as the workmen started to take apart the railroad trestle.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
