From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtake somebody/something apart phrasal verb1 to separate something into all its different parts OPP put together Tom was always taking things apart in the garage.2 to search a place very thoroughly The police took the house apart looking for clues.3 to beat someone very easily in a game, sport, fight etc4 to show that someone is wrong or something is not true Tariq takes several gay myths apart in his book. → take→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
take apart• I've assembled his biography brick by brick, just so I can have the pleasure of taking it apart.• We stopped singing and took a step apart.• You build these wee engines and take them apart.• Because I had to take it apart afterwards and put all the pieces back where they were.• One evening, some weeks later, l took the cube apart and could not get it back together again.• The police took his house apart looking for possible clues after she vanished from a leisure centre car park.• Room by room she was taking it apart, scrubbing and polishing it back into a real nice place.• So he bought a mask and took it apart to figure out how it was made. 