I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
rip/tear sth to bits
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She grabbed the letter and ripped it to bits.
tear/rip open an envelope (= open it quickly and roughly )
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My fingers trembled as I tore open the envelope.
tear/rip sth to shreds
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The clothes were ripped to shreds and covered in blood.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
apart
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Most of the craft had been cannibalized and ripped apart .
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The bomb which ripped apart bus No. 18 in the capital hurled bodies as far as 50 yards.
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To produce a sail he had ripped apart his military uniform.
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Before our eyes the land is literally being ripped apart .
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Three foxes were saved from being savagely ripped apart .
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Some shoppers tell horror stories of plastic bags ripping apart as they carry a gallon jug of milk.
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The centres of our old cities have been ripped apart to make way for it.
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To reward him for this good behavior, I ripped apart the cedar waxwing and handed it to him in little pieces.
away
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As the rocket staged the shield was finally ripped away from the rocket, taking the solar panel with it.
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And they would rip away my cloak, exposing me to the crowd.
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Half its face was ripped away , and its tongue and one ear were almost torn off.
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A twenty-five-foot wave carrying huge pieces of concrete flattened schools and ripped away bridges.
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Her clothing had been ripped away to the waist in the horrific attack, said police spokesman Shlomo Ben Hemo.
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Interior walls, as much as possible, were ripped away .
down
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Within seconds an aesthetic-looking gentleman was frantically beating off the attack as the great feet ripped down his waistcoat.
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Fearfully, Seb drew closer and could see her dress had been ripped down from the neck to waist.
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The man who had agreed with Clive grabbed Nina's jacket collar and tried to rip down her back.
off
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What about the indigenous artists who are ripped off by these greedy con merchants?
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Sometimes producers collude and consumers get ripped off .
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Polly thought she lived in a bedsit and that she was being ripped off .
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It turned out to be Paster, hanging by his feet with his skin ripped off .
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These can be just those pieces which they find lying around the surface or they can be ripped off the growing plants.
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Government spending is not just about irresponsible generations ripping off their descendants or leaving their children broke.
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Before that, though, I opened a can of whole chicken and ripped off a leg dribbling with jelly.
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Cabrera, 27, started ripping off her clothes and tried to rape her, she and Hernandez testified later.
open
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They pierced the fabric of our universe; like a gunshot that ripped open the whole of space and time.
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They ripped open the jugular vein, releasing an appalling rush of blood.
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He threw off his load, unslung his Uzi and ripped open the door.
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Impatiently she struggled out of her blue gaberdine suit and began to rip open the thick, shiny bags and the gleaming boxes.
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Giving herself the advantage of surprise, she ripped open the door.
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He ripped open one of the little silver foil packets and handed her the lubricated ring of rubber.
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His hard knuckles ripped open the soft flesh over Luke's eye.
out
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Some twentieth-century vandal had ripped out the latticed windows of number seventeen.
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Every time I tried to pull myself up, my fistfuls of rockweed ripped out .
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Retirements included George Gyngell who ripped out his seat mountings in the lively conditions.
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Some one had ripped out the cables - more proof of attention to detail.
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Not wanting to know these things, not wanting to see himself, Oedipus rips out his eyes.
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All this had to be ripped out before any redecoration could get under way.
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Many gardeners find it hard to rip out a perennial flower that has taken root.
up
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Gina ripped up one of his articles.
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I could see myself ripping up injunctions.
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At ten o'clock in the morning a monster had ripped up the countryside, devastation littering its wake.
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I felt like a plant ripped up by the roots.
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They said whole fields were ripped up into the air!
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She ripped up a sheet and put the rags between her legs and slept as much as she could.
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I still think of this when I rip up an old vest for a piece of silver-polishing rag.
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An orange ball of flame ripped up into the sky, bathing the deck in light like a miniature sun.
■ NOUN
bomb
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Twelve people died after a bomb ripped through a busy underground passage at Moscow's Pushkin Square during the rush-hour last week.
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The bomb which ripped apart bus No. 18 in the capital hurled bodies as far as 50 yards.
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A bomb ripped apart the No. 18 bus on Jaffa Street early on a workday morning.
clothes
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Devil woman ripped all my clothes off me, sort of thing.
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Cabrera, 27, started ripping off her clothes and tried to rape her, she and Hernandez testified later.
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Most men I know would be ripping my clothes off by now.
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The blast - triggered when Alan lit his gas oven - had ripped off his clothes .
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He gouged her cheek with a screwdriver, but failed to rip off her clothes .
heart
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He said he wanted to rip Lewis's heart from his body.
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Even the most banal of church hymns can rip your heart out at times like this.
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Big Black ripped the heart out of several corners of music and were astonishing in their own right.
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We think a bypass would rip the heart out of Scarisbrick, the village where we live and some farmers would be ruined.
piece
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The power of the swells breaking now would rip him to pieces in seconds.
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If you feel like writing a scathing letter and then ripping it into little pieces , do it!
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As he had always suspected, she was just waiting and watching for an opportunity to rip him to pieces .
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One ripped a piece of flesh out from my armpit.
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I know that it is unnecessary to rip animals to pieces to preserve the balance of nature.
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If piranhas can rip a horse to pieces in no time, surely even a seven foot long otter offers little challenge?
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She ripped him into little pieces .
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We're all ripping each other to pieces here Voice over Back in the tasting room they were still hard at it.
shirt
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She ripped her shirt from her jeans and her hands held Lucy's head like fine porcelain.
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This girl ripped my shirt off and then went for my trousers.
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Boateng went berserk, ripping Johnson's shirt in a nasty scrap.
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When he re-emerged he was ripping his shirt off - it was my shirt, too.
shred
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His silk ballooned, ripping into shreds .
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I can recall that my command tent was ripped to shreds .
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For him there is nothing but mangled meat and pulverised potatoes, ripped to shreds by his incompetent cutlery.
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Its springtime for President Bill Clinton as he watches his Republican challengers rip each other to shreds .
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One could hardly wear garments that were ripped to shreds and spattered with blood.
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And the politicians, thank goodness, have only so much money with which to rip each other to shreds .
■ VERB
let
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They had followed, and he had let his feelings rip when the driver had lost the taxi at a traffic light.
want
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He said he wanted to rip Lewis's heart from his body.
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If critics want to rip me for that, so be it!
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I want to rip them up, stamp on them, throw them out the window.
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He wanted to rip it out of the wall.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
pull/rip/tear sb/sth to pieces
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And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces .
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Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces .
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He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
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I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces .
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If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
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They will tear you to pieces .
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We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
smash/rip/tear sth to pieces
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And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces .
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Brandon Thomas opted to unveil his Aunt away from London fearful that the capital's theatre critics would tear it to pieces .
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He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.
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I had been given the power to obliterate, to steal a body from its grave and tear it to pieces .
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If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.
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Telling me the strangest things sometimes, evil things - till I want to shout out or smash them to pieces .
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We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.
tear/rip sth to shreds
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And the politicians, thank goodness, have only so much money with which to rip each other to shreds .
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Its springtime for President Bill Clinton as he watches his Republican challengers rip each other to shreds .
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Other than the chance to rip it to shreds .
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The agony of such a torment would tear her to shreds .
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They didn't have a humidifier and it's torn my voice to shreds .
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They snarled at them as if they were criminals and took their papers as if they'd like to tear them to shreds .
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They would have torn Corbett to shreds if the grille had been raised.
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Within two years, other researchers had torn it to shreds .
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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Beth excitedly ripped open the package.
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I ripped my skirt on a broken chair.
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My zipper was stuck, and the material around it ripped as I pulled on it.
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Stop pulling my dress! You'll rip it!
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Tom heard his shorts rip as he climbed over the gate.
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We both fell and I heard his shirt rip .
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You can see where the label has been ripped out.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Athelstan carefully ripped the canvas open with the small knife he always carried.
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He grabbed his daughter's long sleeve, but she jerked away, ripping the flower-embroidered linen, towards the other table.
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He wanted to rip it out of the wall.
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If you feel like writing a scathing letter and then ripping it into little pieces, do it!
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One summer she frizzed her hair and took to wearing designer ripped leans.
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Sometimes it thickened and pulsed with blood and felt like it was going to rip something.
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The hornets' nest was ripped from the branch as the strip passed by.
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The impact caused my fistfuls of weed to rip off the rock with a sickening, slimy, ripping sound.
II. noun
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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A rip in a repair worker's protective suit increases the risk of getting a shock as they work on the electricity lines.
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Anne's jacket has a rip in it.
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The rips in the boat's old sails had been patched again and again.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Gives it a smash, gives it a rip .
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His hands were scratched and dusty and there were small rips in his sweater.