tear down

tear ¹  (târ)

v. tore (tôr, tr), torn (tôrn, trn), tear·ing, tears

v.tr.

1. To pull apart or into pieces by force; rend.

2. To make (an opening) by ripping: tore a hole in my stocking.

3. To lacerate (the skin, for example).

4. To separate forcefully; wrench: tore the wrappings off the present.

5. To divide or disrupt: was torn between opposing choices; a country that was torn by strife.

v.intr.

1. To become torn.

2. To move with heedless speed; rush headlong.

n.

1. The act of tearing.

2. The result of tearing; a rip or rent.

3. A great rush; a hurry.

4. Slang A carousal; a spree.

Phrasal Verbs:

tear around Informal

1. To move about in excited, often angry haste.

2. To lead a wild life.

tear at

1. To pull at or attack violently: The dog tore at the meat.

2. To distress greatly: Their plight tore at his heart.

tear away

To remove (oneself, for example) unwillingly or reluctantly.

tear down

1. To demolish: tear down old tenements.

2. To take apart; disassemble: tear down an engine.

3. To vilify or denigrate.

tear into

To attack with great vigor or violence: tore into the food; tore into his opponent.

tear off Informal

To produce hurriedly and casually: tearing off article after news article.

tear up

1. To tear to pieces.

2. To make an opening in: tore up the sidewalk to add a drain.

Idiom:

tear (one's) hair

To be greatly upset or distressed.

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[Middle English teren, from Old English teran; see der- in Indo-European roots.]

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tearer n.

Synonyms: tear¹, rip¹, rend, split, cleave¹
These verbs mean to separate or pull apart by force. Tear involves pulling something apart or into pieces: "She tore the letter in shreds" Edith Wharton.
Rip implies rough or forcible tearing: Carpenters ripped up the old floorboards.
Rend usually refers to violent tearing or wrenching apart: "Come as the winds come, when/Forests are rended" Sir Walter Scott.
To split is to cut or break something into parts or layers, especially along its entire length or along a natural line of division: "They [wood stumps] warmed me twiceonce while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire" Henry David Thoreau.
Cleave most often refers to splitting with or as if with a sharp instrument: The butcher cleft the side of beef into smaller portions.

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tear down

Verb

to destroy or demolish: it will be cheaper to tear down the old house and build a new one than to repair it

Thesaurus

Verb

1.

tear down - tear down so as to make flat with the ground; "The building was levelled" pull down, rase, raze, dismantle, level, take down bulldoze - flatten with or as if with a bulldozer destroy, destruct - do away with, cause the destruction or undoing of; "The fire destroyed the house"