tear sth up
— phrasal verb with tear uk/teər/us/ter/verb tore, torn
(PAPER)
C1 to tear paper into a lot of small pieces:
He tore the letter up and threw it away.
More examples
- She tore up his letter in front of his face.
- I accidentally tore up the car documents.
- The rabbits tore up all the newspaper we put in their hutch.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Tearing and breaking into pieces
- apart
- asunder
- bobble
- break (sth) off
- breakage
- catch
- fall apart
- flake
- fragment
- fragmented
- fray
- frayed
- in ribbons idiom
- knacker
- pull sth apart
- rent
- rip
- shear
- split
- torn
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(AGREEMENT)
If you tear up an agreement, you refuse to accept it or be controlled by it any more:
She tore up the contract and walked out.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Refusing & rejecting
- abnegate
- blow
- bugger
- damned
- demur
- derecognize
- disclaim
- door
- override
- react against sth
- refusal
- shoot
- shun
- sit
- sit sth out
- throw
- veto
- vote sth down
- wash
- wild horses wouldn't drag me idiom
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