pick apart

Idioms  

1. Also, pick holes in or pick to pieces. Find flaws in something by close examination, criticize sharply, as in The lawyer picked apart the testimony, or He found it easy to pick holes in their argument, or The new editor picked her manuscript to pieces. These expressions use pick in the sense of “pierce” or “poke,” a usage dating from the 1300s; pick holes in dates from the mid-1600s, pick to pieces from the mid-1800s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pick apart

Objectively, we can pick apart other people’s arguments, especially when it comes to when to claim Social Security, but we can allow him some grace for “what ifs.”

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026

He made around $2 billion in cattle transactions to build his “ghost herd,” according to bank records filed in Texas federal bankruptcy court, which is trying to pick apart the web of alleged fraud.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026

"We have a treasure chest in our hands now that we can pick apart and explore," Briner says.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2026

He could pick apart an argument you made with one or two incisive slashes of history, facts, humor or logic, mostly all four put together in ways you’d never heard before.

From Salon ● Dec. 31, 2024

I’m not about to give my friends more juicy tidbits to pick apart in private messages.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

Related Words

• admonish
• berate
• castigate
• chastise
• chide
• denounce
• discipline
• rebuff
• rebuke
• reprimand
• reproach
• scold