tear sth apart
(DIVIDE PEOPLE) — phrasal verb with tear /teər/
/ter/ verb (tore, torn)Definition
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.Separating and dividing
(Definition of tear sth apart (DIVIDE PEOPLE) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus
© Cambridge University Press)
Browse related topics
You are looking at an entry to do with Separating and dividing, but you might be interested in these topics from the Cutting and joining topic area:
Browse the Dictionary
-
tear sb apart phrasal verb
-
tear sb away phrasal verb
-
tear sb's heart out idiom
-
tear sb/sth apart phrasal verb
-
tear sth apart phrasal verb (DESTROY)
- tear sth apart phrasal verb (DIVIDE PEOPLE)
-
tear sth apart phrasal verb (PULL VIOLENTLY)
-
tear sth down phrasal verb
-
tear sth off phrasal verb
-
tear sth up phrasal verb (AGREEMENT)
-
tear sth up phrasal verb (PAPER)
Browse the Thesaurus
More Results for “tear sth apart”
SMART Thesaurus
Synonyms and related words:
- bifurcate verb
- bisect verb
- borderline noun
- break sth up phrasal verb
- break-up noun (DIVISION)
- breakdown noun (DIVISION)
- dismember verb
- dissociate verb
- dissociate yourself from sth phrasal verb
- disunite verb
- divide verb (DISAGREE)
- divide verb (SEPARATE)
- divide/split (sth) down the middle idiom
- fork verb (DIVIDE)
- parcel sth out phrasal verb
- polarize verb
- pull sth/sb apart phrasal verb
- quarter verb (CUT INTO FOUR)
- resolve sth into sth phrasal verb
- riven adjective
Topic:
Separating and dividing
Word of the Day
be under a cloud
to not be trusted or popular because people think you have done something bad
Blog
Read our blog about how the English language behaves.
New Words
Find words and meanings that have just started to be used in English, and let us know what you think of them.
