tear apart
phrasal verbtear somebody apart/up
- to make somebody feel very unhappy or worried synonym rip somebody apart
- It tears me apart to think I might have hurt her feelings.
- His distress tore me up inside.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
tear something apart
- to destroy something violently, especially by pulling it to pieces
- The dogs tore the fox apart.
- to make people in a country, an organization or other place fight or argue with each other
- Divisive politics is tearing our country apart.
- to search a place, making it look untidy and causing damage synonym rip something apart
- They tore the room apart, looking for money.