EN

Synonyms for tear

45 synonyms
1 antonym
6 meanings

verb
noun

Most common

rip rend gap sever shoot down shoot pull rupture

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Rip — to make (an opening) with force or energy

rip, rend, gap, sever, chew, sunder, mangle, lacerate

2. Shoot down

shoot down, shoot, dash, charge, charre UK, flash, scoot, dart, scud, buck

3. Pull

pull, pluck, deplume rare, deplumate rare, displume rare

4. Rupture

rupture, snap, bust

Other

pull apart, break, rip out, claw, fissure, sprain

Noun

1. Rent

rent, split, snag

2. Bout

Other

teardrop, tear-off, storm, rage, fume, rant, rave, hare

Antonyms

All antonyms of tear →

Definitions

v. 1
To make (an opening) with force or energy.
The artillery tore a gap in the line.
v. 2
To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
He tore his coat on the nail.
n. 1
A hole or break caused by tearing.
A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
n. 2
A rampage.

Related words

Word family: tearabout tearaway tear-cat tear-throat teardrop tearful tearless teary
Phrases: tear out tear-down tear into tear apart tear-off tear a cat tear to pieces tear up

Forms

Plural: tears → rents, splits, snags, bouts…
Past participle: teared
e.g. teared → ripped, rent, gapped, severed…

Choose the right word

Tear or Rend?

Rend and tear are applied to the separating of textile substances into parts by force violently applied (rend also to frangible substances), tear being the milder, rend the stronger word.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

rip What! This T-shirt is 3,000 yen? This is a rip-off!
chew My dentist recommended that I chew sugar-free gum.
sever Don't sever that precious connection with your son.
buck Benedito saw Adriano's buck grazing near his herd.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
tear		rising
rip		rising
chew		rising
sever		steady
rend		falling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: gap¹, rip¹
4 letters: pull¹, rent¹, snap¹, rage¹, dash¹, buck¹, bust¹, bout¹, chew¹, rant¹, hare¹, claw¹, dart¹, rave¹
5 letters: break¹, shoot¹, split¹, storm¹, flash¹, binge¹, sever², pluck¹, scoot¹
6 letters: charge¹, sprain¹, sunder², mangle², charre
7 letters: rupture², fissure², deplume
8 letters: teardrop, lacerate³, displume
9 letters: deplumate

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (sever² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: déchirer
Català: esquinçar