transitive verb tore, torn, tearing
- to pull apart or separate into pieces by force; rip or rend (cloth, paper, etc.)
- to make or cause by tearing or puncturing: to tear a hole in a dress
- to wound by tearing; lacerate: skin torn and bruised
- to force apart or divide into factions; disrupt; split: ranks torn by dissension
- to divide with doubt, uncertainty, etc.; agitate; torment: a mind torn between duty and desire
- to remove by or as by tearing, pulling, etc.: with up, out, away, off, etc.: to tear a plant up by its roots, to tear oneself away