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Synonyms

tearing

1 American  
[teer-ing] / ˈtɪər ɪŋ /

adjective

  1. shedding tears. tear.

tearing 2 American  
[tair-ing] / ˈtɛər ɪŋ /

adjective

  1. violent or hasty.

    with tearing speed.
tearing British  
/ ˈtɛərɪŋ /

adjective

  1. violent or furious (esp in the phrase tearing hurry or rush )

"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

Other Word Forms

  • tearingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of tearing1

before 1000; Old English tæherende (not recorded in ME); tear 1, -ing 2

Origin of tearing2

First recorded in 1600–10; tear 2 + -ing 2

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.

The only thing I don’t love about Taix is that its owners are tearing it down to erect soulless condos.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026

But cooking without dairy taught me that you can shift a dish the same way you’d refresh a room: not by tearing everything out, but by changing the color on the walls.

From Salon • Mar. 25, 2026

"These are our children, these are our warriors, they defended us," said Olga, 55, tearing up.

From Barron's • Mar. 18, 2026

They clipped 13 seconds of him tearing into a Whopper, sauce and a grin splayed across his face, and posted it.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

Nyame asks Nansi without tearing his gaze away from me.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

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.