Tear vs Pierce - What's the difference?
tear | pierce |
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
To injure as if by pulling apart.
To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
*
, title= 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.
A hole or break caused by tearing.
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 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
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
* Milton
to puncture; to break through
* Dryden
to create a hole in the skin for the purpose of inserting jewelry
to break or interrupt abruptly
(figurative) To penetrate; to affect deeply.
* Alexander Pope
* Shakespeare
As a verb 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.As a noun 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.As a proper noun pierce is
, medieval variant of piers modern usage may also derive from the surname.tear
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
- 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.
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.}}
Synonyms
* (break) rend, rip * (remove by tearing) rip out, tear off, tear outNoun
(en noun)- A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
Derived terms
* wear and tearDerived terms
* tearsheetEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia tear) (en noun)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”. […]’.}}
- Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears .
- some melodious tear
Derived terms
{{der3 , crocodile tears , shed a tear , teardrop , tear duct , tearful , tear up , teary , two tears in a bucket }}pierce
English
Verb
- The diver pierced the surface of the water with scarcely a splash.
- to pierce''' the enemy's line; a shot '''pierced the ship
- I pierce her tender side.
- Can you believe he pierced his tongue?
- A scream pierced the darkness.
- to pierce a mystery
- pierced with grief
- Can no prayers pierce thee?