tear, rip, rend, split, cleave, rive mean to separate forcibly. tear implies pulling apart by force and leaving jagged edges.

1. To become torn: The fabric does not tear easily. 2. To move with heedless speed; rush headlong: tore off down the road; tore along the avenue.

tear noun (FROM EYES) B1 [ C usually plural ] a drop of salty liquid that flows from the eye, as a result of strong emotion, especially unhappiness, or pain:

Definition of tear verb in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

Tears are the liquid that comes out of your eyes when you cry. If you tear something, you pull it into pieces or make a hole in it.

Tear definition: To make (an opening) in something by pulling it apart or by accident.

To tear is to split the fibers of something by pulling apart, usually so as to leave ragged or irregular edges: to tear open a letter. Rend implies force or violence in tearing apart or in pieces: to rend one's …

tear sth out of/off/down, etc to remove something by pulling it quickly and violently:

I was in tears (= crying) by the end of the movie. She burst into tears (= started crying) when she heard the news. (Definition of tear from the Webster's Essential Mini Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (from Latin lacrima ' tear '), sometimes colloquially known as " mace " after the early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon …