tear synonyms

tear

n.

teardrop, droplet, moisture, discharge, eyewash*; see also drop 1.

tear

n.

rent, rip, hole, slit, laceration, split, break, gash, rupture, fissure, crack, cut, breach, damage, imperfection.

Antonyms repair*, patch*, renovation.

tear

v.

rend, rip, reave, split, lacerate, shred, pull apart, tear up; see also cut 1, 2, rend.

tear implies a pulling apart by force, so as to lacerate or leave ragged edges to tear paper wrapping; rip suggests a forcible tearing, especially along a seam or in a straight line to rip a hem; rend, a somewhat literary term, implies a tearing with violence the tree was rent by a bolt of lightning

Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.