Word.ws English Dictionary

picking apart

picking apart is the present participle and gerund of pick apart.

Meaning of pick apart

Verb

pick apart (third-person singular simple present picks apart, present participle picking apart, simple past and past participle picked apart)

  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pick, apart.
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To review or analyse in great detail
    1. (idiomatic, transitive) To criticise (especially small details).
  3. (idiomatic, transitive) To overcome by skilled execution.
    • The quarterback picked apart the secondary defense in the first half.

Questions about picking apart

What is picking apart the present participle and gerund of?
Picking apart is the present participle and gerund of pick apart.

Words near picking apart in the dictionary

  1. picking a lane
  2. picking a quarrel
  3. picking and choosing
  4. picking and grinning
  5. picking and passing
  6. picking apart
  7. picking at
  8. picking away at
  9. picking bids off the wall
  10. picking by SKU
  11. picking corners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: picking apart (page history and authors); pick apart (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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Cite this entry: “picking apart.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/picking_apart. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.