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.
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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.