take apart

verb

1. to separate (something) into component parts
2. to criticize or punish severely

   the reviewers took the new play apart

Example Sentences

The best-funded, former eBay chief Meg Whitman, appears to be the kind of amateur who the old pro could take apart quickly.

From The Daily Beast

The only parts of a rifle that an enlisted man is permitted to take apart are the bolt mechanism and the magazine mechanism.

From Project Gutenberg

The early masters' works, which are badly drawn and beautifully colored, I have to take apart—and it is unsatisfying.

From Project Gutenberg

If not, sometime take apart a discarded nest—even the simplest in structure—and try to put it together again.

From Project Gutenberg

Take apart the main and secondary valves and clean thoroughly, seeing that all parts are in good working order.

From Project Gutenberg

Those of the boxes which you do not use whole you should take apart carefully (see Withdrawing Nails).

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• batter
• decimate
• demolish
• destroy
• devastate
• impair
• injure
• mangle
• mar
• ravage
• raze
• ruin
• sabotage
• shatter
• sink
• smash
• spoil
• torpedo
• trash
• undermine