From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtear somebody/something to shreds/piecestear somebody/something to shreds/piecesCRITICIZE informal to criticize someone or something very severely He tore her arguments to shreds. → tear
Examples from the Corpus
tear somebody/something to shreds/pieces• Within two years, other researchers had torn it to shreds.• Male Siamese fighting fish will tear each other's fins to shreds.• And having got under them, he can't half tear them to pieces.• They snarled at them as if they were criminals and took their papers as if they'd like to tear them to shreds.• They will tear you to pieces.• He was thrown from his chariot and his horses tore him to pieces and devoured him.• In the end the prosecutor's case was torn to shreds by Russell's lawyer.• A shell had exploded in the body of one of them, tearing it to pieces; others were torn and wounded.• If Hyde returns while I am writing this confession, he will tear it to pieces to annoy me.• We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws. 