tear apart
Idioms-
Upset or make distraught, as in The parents' divorce tore apart the grandparents . [Second half of 1800s]
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Criticize severely, as in The professor tore her paper apart . [Mid-1900s]
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Search some place completely, as in The police tore the house apart . [Second half of 1900s]
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Separate, especially unwillingly, as in The war tore many families apart .
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.
Teams just cannot cope with their pace, passing and pressing - and they continue to tear apart any team in their way.
From BBC • Jul. 9, 2025
At 3:45 a.m., a fire unit on the southern front asks if they can “order an excavator to tear apart some buildings that are partially down,” as “they’re throwing off a pretty serious ember cast.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2025
Instead, as Merry’s memo charges, the advisers simply helped Yeltsin’s people tear apart their economies.
From Slate • Dec. 23, 2024
Egypt warned Israel and the U.S. that any military operations in the zone “could tear apart our peace,” a second Egyptian official said.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 25, 2024
To tear apart this stupid competition and send everyone into a tizzy.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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.
