1
as in ripping
to cause (something) to separate into jagged pieces by violently pulling at it
angrily tore the letter to shreds
Synonyms & Similar Words
2
as in yanking
to separate or remove by forceful pulling
tore the book from his hand
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in hurrying
to proceed or move quickly
she tore out of the room as soon as the phone started to ring
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of tearing
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Dec. 2025
Sana Noor Haq,
CNN Money,
5 July 2026
That conversation completely shifted Taylor’s perspective, inspiring her to see the home's original features as something worth building around, instead of tearing out.
—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
4 July 2026
McGregor swept the scorecards despite tearing his ACL midway through, then sat out roughly 10 months to recover.
—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2026
Asus Monitor Deals Asus TUF Gaming VG249Q5A Monitor This Asus 24-inch gaming monitor has a blistering 200Hz refresh rate, helping eliminate screen tearing and lag.
—
George Yang,
PC Magazine,
3 July 2026
Some bystanders are later seen tearing bills in half amid the confrontation.
—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
2 July 2026
Shakespeare’s haughty Roman war hero, revered on the battlefield yet reviled by hungry plebeians, becomes the flash point in a young democracy tearing itself apart over power and sacrifice.
—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 July 2026
The other was a tearing beauty, a creature so lovely that one look at her sent young men’s blood pressure skyward and set them to uttering wild, hoarse cries and tearing telephone directories apart with the bare hands.
—
John Madson,
Outdoor Life,
1 July 2026
Start with a glass or fine-grit nail file for shaping without tearing the layers of the nail, and a buffer block to lightly smooth the surface.
—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Kansas City Star,
26 June 2026
Adjective
By acting as a biomechanical bridge, soft enough for muscle, strong enough for rigid parts, the tendons eliminate the tearing and detachment problems that have plagued previous designs.
—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Dec. 2025
Verb
Rats, cockroaches and weasels run amok, tearing through limp tent sheets and biting children and newborn babies in their sleep.
—
Sana Noor Haq,
CNN Money,
5 July 2026
That conversation completely shifted Taylor’s perspective, inspiring her to see the home's original features as something worth building around, instead of tearing out.
—
Tereza Shkurtaj,
PEOPLE,
4 July 2026
McGregor swept the scorecards despite tearing his ACL midway through, then sat out roughly 10 months to recover.
—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2026
Asus Monitor Deals Asus TUF Gaming VG249Q5A Monitor This Asus 24-inch gaming monitor has a blistering 200Hz refresh rate, helping eliminate screen tearing and lag.
—
George Yang,
PC Magazine,
3 July 2026
Some bystanders are later seen tearing bills in half amid the confrontation.
—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
2 July 2026
Shakespeare’s haughty Roman war hero, revered on the battlefield yet reviled by hungry plebeians, becomes the flash point in a young democracy tearing itself apart over power and sacrifice.
—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
1 July 2026
The other was a tearing beauty, a creature so lovely that one look at her sent young men’s blood pressure skyward and set them to uttering wild, hoarse cries and tearing telephone directories apart with the bare hands.
—
John Madson,
Outdoor Life,
1 July 2026
Start with a glass or fine-grit nail file for shaping without tearing the layers of the nail, and a buffer block to lightly smooth the surface.
—
Lauren Jarvis-Gibson,
Kansas City Star,
26 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tearing
Adjective
-
So Google isn’t trying to release more biting mosquitoes into neighborhoods.
-
Netflix’s big comedy bet might be the Dan Levy–Rachel Sennott co-creation Big Mistakes; the biting, farcical series about adult siblings who get caught up in the drug business plays like Weeds crossed with The Other Two.
Verb
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The game was mostly notable for its physicality as referee Wilton Pereira Sampaio allowed both teams to batter each other, with blood flowing and shirts ripping.
-
On Thursday morning, one of the two landlord representatives, Christina Smyth, resigned, ripping the rent freeze as a predetermined conclusion the board had worked to justify.
Verb
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Now, with the federal and state government yanking back plenty of that funding and directly barring the city from enacting some of its more aggressive climate plans, Higgins is left with a narrow road to tread toward progress.
-
The virtual oar-yanking celebration in a baseball atmosphere was one of those weird juxtapositions that seem to get fostered whenever a World Cup fanbase descends upon a host city.
Verb
-
Set over the course of eight years (including the lockdown period during COVID), Herry’s film unfolds fluidly, neither hurrying scenes up unnecessarily, nor lingering too long on any incident.
-
No point hurrying toward a resolution that was always receding.
Adjective
-
The researchers' device aims to solve the stinging problem by physically preventing this meeting (unfortunately no images of it are available at this time).
-
Since September of 2024, federal science agencies in the US have axed nearly 120,000 employees, in a stinging loss for public research.
Verb
-
Americans are grabbing their passports and fleeing the country in hopes of leaving the nation’s problems behind.
-
Swanson argues those behind-the-scenes improvements have done more to modernize logistics than many of the industry’s headline-grabbing automation projects.
Verb
-
Boise and Ada County have created infractions for speeding on the Greenbelt, and the city worked with Lime, a popular electric transportation company, to limit scooter speeds in parts of the city.
-
The driver, 26-year-old Saah Foiyoe, was neither speeding nor impaired, according to police.
Adjective
-
In addition to the photobooks, the installation included a pair of headphones playing Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer, along with two replicas of Andy Warhol’s post-shooting girdle.
-
Trump lavished unusual praise on the media at a post-shooting late night press conference at the White House Saturday night.
Cite this Entry
“Tearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tearing. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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