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Synonyms

tearing

1 American  
[teer-ing] / ˈtɪər ɪŋ /

adjective

  1. shedding tears. tear.

tearing 2 American  
[tair-ing] / ˈtɛər ɪŋ /

adjective

  1. violent or hasty.

    with tearing speed.
tearing British  
/ ˈtɛərɪŋ /

adjective

  1. violent or furious (esp in the phrase tearing hurry or rush )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • tearingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of tearing1

before 1000; Old English tæherende (not recorded in ME); tear 1, -ing 2

Origin of tearing2

First recorded in 1600–10; tear 2 + -ing 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They began by fixing the pictures of some of the missing to lamp posts, the sound of their tape tearing across the noise of neighbourhood dogs which barked aggressively when they passed by homes.

From BBC

I came tearing out of the bottoms into one of our fields.

From Literature

"It's been really hard and not the way I wanted to end the Olympics," she said, tearing up.

From Barron's

Hodgkinson was left unable to train after tearing her hamstring just a few months after that triumph and has been building her way back ever since.

From BBC

Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is a soaring, achingly romantic tribute to the rapturous feeling of reading a great book, tearing through every page in a single afternoon.

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.