tear
To pull something so that it breaks into pieces.
To damage something by pulling it apart or making it come apart suddenly, often along an irregular line.
A small drop of water from your eye when you cry or when something hurts your eye.
A drop of clear salty liquid produced by the eyes as a response to emotion or irritation.
A place where cloth, paper, etc., is broken because it was pulled apart.
A hole or split in cloth, paper, or other material where it has been torn.
To go somewhere very fast, sometimes without care.
To move at high speed, often in a careless or dangerous way.
- Base: tear
- Plural: tears
- Base: tear
- 3rd Person Singular: tears
- Present Participle: tearing
- Past: teared, tore
- Past Participle: torn
- Irregular past participle: torn Verb
in tears
1Crying at that moment
Crying at that time.
- He was in tears after watching the sad movie.
- She ran out of the room in tears.
tear down
1Demolish or criticize harshly
To destroy a building OR to say very bad things about someone or something.
- They tore down the old school to build a new one.
- The critics tore down the new play.
tear up
1Rip into pieces or start crying slightly
To break something into pieces by tearing OR to get tears in your eyes because of emotion or pain.
- He tore up the letter and threw it away.
- She began to tear up during the speech.
burst into tears
1suddenly start crying
To start crying very suddenly and strongly.
- When she saw the broken vase, she burst into tears.
- He burst into tears as soon as he heard the sad news.
burst into tears
2Suddenly start crying
To start crying suddenly and loudly.
- She burst into tears when she heard the bad news.
- The child burst into tears after falling down.
tear apart
1Pull into pieces or upset deeply
To break something into pieces OR to cause someone great sadness or pain.
- The dog tore the newspaper apart.
- The explosion tore apart several buildings.
- The critics tore his new book apart.
- The news tore her apart emotionally.