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tear away

British  
/ tɛə /

verb

  1. (tr, adverb) to persuade (oneself or someone else) to leave

    I couldn't tear myself away from the television

"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

noun

    1. a reckless impetuous unruly person

    2. ( as modifier )

      a tearaway young man

"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
tear away Idioms  
  1. Remove oneself unwillingly or reluctantly, as in I couldn't tear myself away from that painting. [Late 1700s]


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.

"All he did was tear away that fragile veil in advance, placing the reality outside the room plainly on the table," one Xiaohongshu post read after his death.

From BBC

Historically, warrantless subpoenas under these laws were used as a narrow investigative tool for specific customs and regulatory violations, not as a weapon to tear away the privacy and protected speech of social media users.

From Salon

And I pretended I didn’t see her wipe a tear away from her eye as she passed me the plates.

From Literature

“I just saw it tear away and slip under the water. It’s gone.”

From Literature

"You're watching a little bit in awe for the first few episodes," he confessed, "but then by the end, you're there sat with tissues drying tears away… it's a very, very sweet story."

From BBC