tear

CEFRB1

/tɛə/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A drop of liquid from the eye when someone cries.

  2. 02

    verb

    To pull something apart and damage it.

Examples

  • If he sends me any letters, I just tear them up and throw them away.

  • If she's not careful she'll tear a ligament doing that.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /teː/
  • /tiə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. To destroy or reduce abstract unity or coherence, such as social, political or emotional.

  2. To injure as if by pulling apart.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.

More examples

In context

  • This sheet has a tear in it.

  • He tore his coat on the nail.

  • He tore some muscles in a weight-lifting accident.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He accidentally tried to blank the paper into two pieces along the dotted line.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English teren, from Old English teran (“to tear, lacerate”), from Proto-Germanic *teraną (“to tear, tear apart, rip”), from Proto-Indo-European *der- (“to tear, tear apart”). Cognate with Scots tere, teir, tair (“to rend, lacerate, wound, rip, tear out”), Dutch teren (“to eliminate, efface, live, survive by consumption”), German zehren (“to consume, misuse”), German zerren (“to tug, rip, tear”), Danish tære (“to consume”), Swedish tära (“to fret, consume, deplete, use up”), Icelandic tæra (“to clear, corrode”). Outside Germanic, cognate to Ancient Greek δέρω (dérō, “to skin”), Albanian ther (“to slay, skin, pierce”). Doublet of tire.