tear up

verb

tore up; torn up; tearing up; tears up

transitive verb

1

: to damage, remove, or effect an opening in

tore up the street to lay a new water main

2

: to perform or compete with great success on, in, or against

couples tearing up the dance floor

a batter who's tearing up the league

Examples of tear up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Then Jesse, thinking about being left alone on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, tears up, thinking about how awful life would be apart from his daughter. —Brian Moylan, Vulture, 23 Apr. 2025

His Ryder Cup teammate Justin Rose had been quietly tearing up the course with six birdies on the second nine, storming back into contention from seven shots behind, meaning that McIlroy had to now navigate a nervy playoff. —Don Riddell, CNN Money, 14 Apr. 2025

The plant closures tore up communities, vaporizing what had been stable union jobs. —Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times, 13 Apr. 2025

Getting a fix: D.I.Y. influencers tap into the strange allure of watching other people tear up their homes. —Natasha Frost, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1620, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for tear up

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup
• markup