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Tear vs Flap - What's the difference?

tear | flap |

In lang=en terms the difference between tear and flap

is that tear is to produce tears while flap is to move loosely back and forth.

As verbs the difference between tear and flap

is that tear is to rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate or tear can be to produce tears while flap is to move (something broad and loose) back and forth.

As nouns the difference between tear and flap

is that tear is a hole or break caused by tearing or tear can be a drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation while flap is anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.

tear

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

  • To rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
  • * 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
    • He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
  • To injure as if by pulling apart.
  • To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
  • *
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
  • To make (an opening) with force or energy.
  • To remove by tearing.
  • To demolish
  • To become torn, especially accidentally.
  • To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
  • To smash or enter something with great force.
    • Synonyms
    * (break) rend, rip * (remove by tearing) rip out, tear off, tear out
    Related terms
    * tearaway * tear apart * tear down * tear into * tear up * that's torn it * wear and tear * retear

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A hole or break caused by tearing.
    • A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
    Derived terms
    * wear and tear

    Derived terms

    * tearsheet

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (wikipedia tear) (en noun)
  • A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=6 citation , passage=‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.}}
  • Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
  • * Dryden
    • Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears .
  • That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
  • * Milton
    • some melodious tear
    Derived terms
    {{der3 , crocodile tears , shed a tear , teardrop , tear duct , tearful , tear up , teary , two tears in a bucket }}

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To produce tears.
    • Her eyes began to tear in the harsh wind.

    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words English ergative verbs English heteronyms English irregular verbs English terms with multiple etymologies ----

    flap

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Anything broad and flexible that hangs loose, or that is attached by one side or end and is easily moved.
  • * Sir Thomas Browne
    • a cartilaginous flap upon the opening of the larynx
  • *
  • A hinged leaf, as of a table or shutter.
  • An upset, stir, scandal or controversy
  • The motion of anything broad and loose, or a stroke or sound made with it.
  • * , chapter=4
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.}}
  • A disease in the lips of horses.
  • (aviation) A hinged surface on the trailing edge of the wings of an aeroplane.
  • (surgery) A piece of tissue incompletely detached from the body, as an intermediate stage of plastic surgery.
  • (slang) The female genitals.

    • Synonyms

    * (upset)

    See also

    * ("flap" on Wikipedia) * * lappet

    Verb

    (flapp)
  • To move (something broad and loose) back and forth.
    • The crow slowly flapped its wings.
  • *
  • To move loosely back and forth.
    • The flag flapped in the breeze.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=September 29 , author=Tom Rostance , title=Stoke 2 - 1 Besiktas , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Former Turkey goalkeeper Rustu Recber flapped at his first Delap throw but was given a soft free-kick by referee Antony Gautier.}}

    Derived terms

    * cat flap * flapper * unflappable ----