If you tear paper, cloth, or another material, or if it tears, you pull it into two pieces or you pull it so that a hole appears in it. She very nearly tore my overcoat Mary Ann tore the edge off her napkin He took a small notebook from his jacket pocket and tore out a page Too fine a material may tear Nancy quickly tore open the envelope He noticed that fabric was tearing away from the plane's wing He went ashore leaving me to start repairing the torn sail. Tear up means the same as tear. She tore the letter up Don't you dare tear up her ticket. a torn up photograph
If you tear somewhere, you move there very quickly, often in an uncontrolled or dangerous way. The door flew open and Miranda tore into the room = rush
If a person or animal tears at something, they pull it violently and try to break it into pieces. Female fans fought their way past bodyguards and tore at his clothes. = rip
If you tear one of your muscles or ligaments, or if it tears, you injure it by accidentally moving it in the wrong way. He tore a muscle in his right thigh If the muscle is stretched again it could even tear. torn ligaments
A tear in paper, cloth, or another material is a hole that has been made in it. I peered through a tear in the van's curtains
If you say that a place is torn by particular events, you mean that unpleasant events which cause suffering and division among people are happening there. a country that has been torn by civil war and foreign invasion since its independence. + -torn -torn the riot-torn areas of Los Angeles. see also torn, wear and tear
To tear something from somewhere means to remove it roughly and violently. She tore the windscreen wipers from his car He tore down the girl's photograph, and crumpled it into a ball