Word.ws English Dictionary

on a tear

/ɒn ə ˈtɛə(ɹ)/

on a tear prepositional phrase: engaged in a continuous, fast-paced procession of actions or events, especially with favorable results.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) Engaged in a continuous, fast-paced procession of actions or events, especially with favorable results.
    • [T]he team was on a tear, having laid waste to three early round tournament opponents by a total victory margin of 82 points.1981 April 13, “Sport: Raging Bull of Basketball”, in Time, retrieved 28 Aug 2015
    • To say he went on a tear after turning professional would be an understatement. He went fourteen fights without tasting defeat.2014 November 7, Dan Hardy, “Michael Bisping analysis”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 28 Aug 2015
  2. (idiomatic) In or into a protracted state of agitation, fury, or zeal.
    • Congress has been hopping mad and the U.N.-haters have been on a tear.2001 May 29, Thomas L. Friedman, “Foreign Affairs: 95 to 5”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Aug 2015
    • [W]hen the gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer goes on a tear, when he really lays into somebody about being politically lazy or not wearing a condom,. . . [y]ou hear rage.2012 September 27, Wesley Morris, “‘How to Survive a Plague’ looks back at AIDS activism’s power”, in Boston Globe, retrieved 28 Aug 2015
  3. (idiomatic) Binge drinking; engaged in a bout of heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages; on a bender.
    • The man I want to tell you about, the one I met at the bar at Jimmy's Steak House, was on a tear. Hardly surprising, since this was a bar, after all, and what do people do at bars except drink, and one drink leads to another -- and if you're in a certain frame of mind, I suppose, you don't stop for...2013, T. C. Boyle, T.C. Boyle Stories II: The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle, →ISBN
    • That Kelly, when he goes on a tear, he don't wait for the bars to open.1998, Dana Stabenow, Fire and Ice, page 77

Examples of on a tear in a sentence

  • [T]he market has been on a tear for more than six years and continues to trade near record highs.2015 July 9, William D. Cohan, “The Bumbling, Irrelevant New York Stock Exchange”, in New York Times, retrieved 28 Aug 2015:
  • The man I want to tell you about, the one I met at the bar at Jimmy's Steak House, was on a tear.2013, T. C. Boyle, T.C. Boyle Stories II: The Collected Stories of T. Coraghessan Boyle, →ISBN:

Questions about on a tear

What does on a tear mean?
On a tear means engaged in a continuous, fast-paced procession of actions or events, especially with favorable results.
How do you use on a tear in a sentence?
[T]he market has been on a tear for more than six years and continues to trade near record highs.
What part of speech is on a tear?
On a tear is a prepositional phrase.
How do you pronounce on a tear?
On a tear is pronounced /ɒn ə ˈtɛə(ɹ)/.

Words near on a tear in the dictionary

  1. on a sixpence
  2. on a stick
  3. on a stretch
  4. on a string
  5. on a sudden
  6. on a tear
  7. on a tight leash
  8. on a time
  9. on a whim
  10. on a wing and a prayer
  11. on a wonder

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: on a tear (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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