tear (1) — OAT

tear1

(rhymes with ‘bear’)

verb

1 I tore up the letter:

rip up, rip in two, pull apart, pull to pieces, shred.

2 her tights were torn by the rough concrete:

rip, snag;

British ladder.

3 his flesh was torn:

lacerate, cut (open), cut to pieces, cut to ribbons, gash, slash, scratch, claw, mangle, mutilate, hack, pierce, stab;

injure, wound.

4 the traumas have torn her family apart:

divide, split, split down the middle, sever, break apart, disunite, rupture;

literary rend, rip asunder, cleave;

rare sunder, rive, dissever.

▷antonyms unite, unify.

5 Gina tore the book from his hands:

snatch, grab, seize, rip, wrench, wrest, pull, pluck;

informal yank.

6 I was torn by guilt:

torment, torture, rack, harrow, wring, lacerate;

literary rend.

7 informal Jack tore down the street:

sprint, race, run, dart, rush, dash, hasten, hurry, scurry, scuttle, scamper, hare, bolt, bound, fly, gallop, career, charge, pound, shoot, hurtle, speed, streak, flash, whiz, zoom, sweep, go like lightning, go hell for leather, go like the wind;

informal pelt, scoot, hotfoot it, belt, zip, whip, go like a bat out of hell, step on it, get a move on, get cracking, put on some speed, stir one's stumps;

British, informal go like the clappers, bomb, bucket, leg it;

Scottish, informal wheech;

North American, informal boogie, hightail it, barrel, get the lead out;

informal , dated cut along;

archaic post, hie.

▷antonyms stroll, amble.

□ tear something down

they tore down the old barn:

demolish, knock down, pull down, raze, raze to the ground, flatten, level, bulldoze;

take down, dismantle, disassemble.

▷antonyms build, erect.

□ tear into someone

their tyrannical father tore into all of his sons:

attack, assail, hit, strike, let fly at, lay into, lash out at, set upon, fall on, turn on, assault, beat, thrash, pound, pummel, wallop, hammer, pounce on, round on, pelt, drub;

rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reprove, admonish, remonstrate with, chastise, chide, upbraid, take to task, pull up, castigate, lambaste, read someone the Riot Act, give someone a piece of one's mind, go on at, haul over the coals, criticize, censure;

informal lace into, sail into, pitch into, let someone have it, get stuck into, paste, do over, knock around, rough up;

British, informal set about, have a go at.

□ tear someone off a stripBritish, informal

we are more at ease tearing our partner off a strip than telling them how much we value them:

reprimand, rebuke, scold, admonish, reprove, upbraid, chastise, chide, censure, castigate, lambaste, berate, lecture, criticize, take to task, read the Riot Act to, haul over the coals;

informal tell off, give someone a telling-off, dress down, give someone a dressing-down, bawl out, pitch into, lay into, lace into, blow up at, give someone a piece of one's mind, give someone an earful, give someone a roasting, give someone a rocket, give someone a rollicking;

British, informal have a go at, carpet, give someone what for, let someone have it;

North American, informal chew out, ream out;

British, vulgar slang bollock, give someone a bollocking, tear someone a new arsehole, rip someone a new arsehole;

North American, vulgar slang tear someone a new asshole, rip someone a new asshole.

noun

there was a tear in her dress:

rip, hole, split, rent, cut, slash, slit;

ladder, run, snag.