Word.ws English Dictionary

tear off

UK/tɛəɹ ɒf/US/teɹ ɑf/

tear off verb: to rip away from; to pull a piece from forcibly. Also the alternative form of tear-off.

Verb

tear off (third-person singular simple present tears off, present participle tearing off, simple past tore off, past participle torn off)

  1. (transitive) To rip away from; to pull a piece from forcibly.
    • Do not tear off the price tag if you want to return that shirt.
    Synonyms:
    detach
  2. (intransitive) To become detached by tearing or ripping.
    Synonyms:
    remove, rip off
  3. (intransitive) To leave or depart rapidly.
    • The fugitive tore off down the alley.
    Synonyms:
    flee
  4. (transitive) To remove all of a roof (shingles, etc.) down to the wood deck.

Also used as

tear off is also the alternative form of tear-off.

Synonyms of tear off

Forms of tear off

Verb
third-person singular presenttears off
present participletearing off
pasttore off
past participletorn off
Noun
pluraltear offs

Questions about tear off

What does tear off mean?
Tear off means to rip away from; to pull a piece from forcibly.
What part of speech is tear off?
Tear off is a verb.
How do you pronounce tear off?
Tear off is pronounced /tɛəɹ ɒf/ (UK).
What is the past tense of tear off?
The past tense of tear off is tore off.

Words near tear off in the dictionary

  1. tear it up
  2. tear jerker
  3. tear jerkers
  4. tear line
  5. tear lines
  6. tear off
  7. tear offs
  8. tear one's hair
  9. tear one's hair out
  10. tear out
  11. tear pit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tear off (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.

Last updated:

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