Verb
tear apart (third-person singular simple present tears apart, present participle tearing apart, simple past tore apart, past participle torn apart)
- (transitive) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tear, apart.
She tore her ex-boyfriend’s clothes apart in fury.
- (transitive) to destroy
The bomb tore apart most of the town hall.
2003, The Room:Johnny: You are lying! I never hit you! You are tearing me apart, Lisa!
- (transitive) to cause to separate
- (transitive, figuratively) to severely defeat
- Synonym: take apart
2011 February 1, Keir Murray, “Aberdeen 0 - 3 Celtic”, in BBC:But Celtic could smell blood and they tore the Reds apart in the 12th minute.
2024 January 7, Gary Rose, “Manchester City 5-0 Huddersfield Town”, in BBC Sport:That never looked likely and, to the Terriers' credit, they fought hard and defended well at times against a City side capable of tearing apart almost any team at any level.