tear sth apart
— phrasal verb with tear uk/teər/us/ter/verb tore, torn
(PULL VIOLENTLY)
to pull something so violently that it breaks into two or more pieces:
A dog can tear a rabbit apart in seconds.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Tearing and breaking into pieces
- apart
- asunder
- bobble
- break (sth) off
- breakage
- catch
- fall apart
- flake
- fragment
- fragmented
- fray
- frayed
- in ribbons idiom
- knacker
- pull sth apart
- rent
- rip
- shear
- split
- tear sth up
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(DIVIDE PEOPLE)
C2 to make a group of people that was united, such as a country, family, or political party, argue, or fight with each other by dividing it into two or more parts:
Ethnic rivalries threaten to tear this country apart.
He resigned, depressed at the way that the party was tearing itself apart.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Separating and dividing
- atomize
- bifurcate
- bifurcation
- bisect
- borderline
- branch
- disestablish
- dismember
- dissociate
- dissociate yourself from sth
- disunite
- divide
- drift
- pull sth/sb apart
- quarter
- ravel
- resolve
- resolve sth into sth
- rive
- tear 1
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(DESTROY)
to destroy a building or room:
The blast had torn the building apart.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Destroying and demolishing
- annihilate
- apocalypse
- be sacrificed on the altar of sth idiom
- blast
- blast/blow sb/sth to kingdom come idiom
- fall in
- kill sth off
- kill the goose that lays the golden egg idiom
- knock
- knock sth down
- sacrifice
- sink
- smash
- stave
- stave sth in
- take sb/sth out
- tear 1
- tear sth down
- teardown
- wipe
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