tear
/tɛɹ/ verb B1- To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate. · He tore his coat on the nail.
- To injure as if by pulling apart. · He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.
- To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional. · He was torn by conflicting emotions.
- To make (an opening) with force or energy. · A piece of debris tore a tiny straight channel through the satellite.· His boss will tear him a new one when he finds out.
- To remove by tearing, or with sudden great force. · Tear the coupon out of the newspaper.
- To demolish. · The slums were torn down to make way for the new development.
- To become torn, especially accidentally. · My dress has torn.
- To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence. · He went tearing down the hill at 90 miles per hour.· The tornado lingered, tearing through town, leaving nothing upright.
He/she/it tears · Past tore · Past participle torn · -ing form tearing
Verb forms
- Base form
- tear
- He/she/it
- tears
- Past
- tore
- Past participle
- torn
- -ing form
- tearing
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- tear along To run quickly along somewhere.
- tear apart Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see tear, ...
- tear away To remove (oneself or another person), overcoming that pe...
- tear down To demolish.
- tear into To subject to a heavy attack, physical or figurative.
- tear off To rip away from; to pull a piece from forcibly.
- tear out To remove by tearing.
- tear up To tear into pieces.
- tear up To start shedding tears.
From the library
“Come, there’s no use in crying like that!” said Alice to herself, rather sharply; “I advise you to leave off this minute!” She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.
The Pool of Tears
Stop this moment, I tell you!” But she went on all the same, shedding gallons of tears, until there was a large pool all round her, about four inches deep and reaching half down the hall.
“I’m sure those are not the right words,” said poor Alice, and her eyes filled with tears again as she went on, “I must be Mabel after all, and I shall have to go and live in that poky little house, and have next to no toys to play with, and oh!
Other matches
- tear A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the... A2
- tear To produce tears. C2
- tear A hole or break caused by tearing. C2
- tear along To run quickly along somewhere.
- tear apart Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: ...
- tear away To remove
- tear down To demolish.
- tear into To subject to a heavy attack, physical or figur...
Learn tear in real texts
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