pick apart

verb

picked apart; picking apart; picks apart
chiefly US
: to say all of the things that are bad or wrong about (someone or something) : to criticize (a person or thing) in a very detailed and usually unkind way
You can expect political analysts to pick apart the governor's speech.
The film's critics picked his performance apart.

Examples of pick apart in a Sentence

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McKee did find rookie Makai Lemon throughout the night and picked apart the secondary at times, but there is gradual improvement showing out of the unit. — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Oct. 2026 Will the Patriots continue their winning streak, or will Caleb Williams and the Bears pick apart their defense? — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 22 Oct. 2026 That Styles let us into his now yearslong search for some semblance of understanding — knowing how his words have been picked apart before for far lesser things — shouldn’t be taken for granted. — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 19 Oct. 2026 Stroud picked apart the Titans, and only the Texans' inability to convert twice inside the Tennessee 20 in the first half kept the final score from being worse. — ABC News, 11 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for pick apart

Rhymes for pick apart

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Browse Nearby Words

pickaninny
pick apart
pick a quarrel
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Cite this Entry

“Pick apart.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pick%20apart. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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