pick apart

Idioms and Phrases

Also, pick holes in or pick to pieces . Find flaws in something by close examination, criticize sharply, as in The lawyer picked apart the testimony , or He found it easy to pick holes in their argument , or The new editor picked her manuscript to pieces . These expressions use pick in the sense of “pierce” or “poke,” a usage dating from the 1300s; pick holes in dates from the mid-1600s, pick to pieces from the mid-1800s.

Related Words

• admonish
• berate
• castigate
• chastise
• chide
• denounce
• discipline
• rebuff
• rebuke
• reprimand
• reproach
• scold