1. To pull apart or into pieces by force; rend.
2. To make (an opening) by ripping: tore a hole in my stocking.
3. To lacerate (the skin, for example).
4. To separate forcefully; wrench: tore the wrappings off the present.
5. To divide or disrupt: was torn between opposing choices; a country that was torn by strife.

1. To become torn.
2. To move with heedless speed; rush headlong.

1. The act of tearing.
2. The result of tearing; a rip or rent.
3. A great rush; a hurry.
4. Slang A carousal; a spree.
5. To move about in excited, often angry haste.
6. To lead a wild life.
7. To pull at or attack violently: The dog tore at the meat.
8. To distress greatly: Their plight tore at his heart.
9. To demolish: tear down old tenements.
10. To take apart; disassemble: tear down an engine.
11. To vilify or denigrate.
12. To tear to pieces.
13. To make an opening in: tore up the sidewalk to add a drain.

1. To move about in excited, often angry haste.
2. To lead a wild life.

1. To pull at or attack violently: The dog tore at the meat.
2. To distress greatly: Their plight tore at his heart.

1. To demolish: tear down old tenements.
2. To take apart; disassemble: tear down an engine.
3. To vilify or denigrate.

1. To tear to pieces.
2. To make an opening in: tore up the sidewalk to add a drain.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to separate or pull apart by force. Tear involves pulling something apart or into pieces: "She tore the letter in shreds" (Edith Wharton).
Rip implies rough or forcible tearing: Carpenters ripped up the old floorboards.
Rend usually refers to violent tearing or wrenching apart: "Come as the winds come, when/Forests are rended" (Sir Walter Scott).
To split is to cut or break something into parts or layers, especially along its entire length or along a natural line of division: "They [wood stumps] warmed me twice—once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire" (Henry David Thoreau).
Cleave most often refers to splitting with or as if with a sharp instrument: The butcher cleft the side of beef into smaller portions.