TORN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does torn mean? 

• TORN (adjective)
  The adjective TORN has 2 senses:

1. having edges that are jagged from injury

2. disrupted by the pull of contrary forces

  Familiarity information: TORN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TORN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having edges that are jagged from injury

Synonyms:

lacerate; lacerated; mangled; torn

Similar:

injured (harmed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Disrupted by the pull of contrary forces

Context example:

torn by religious dissensions

Similar:

divided (separated into parts or pieces)

 Context examples 

The Ghost was being wrenched and torn to fragments.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He took a small piece of torn paper from a note-book and spread it out upon his knee.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I wonder you was not afraid of its being torn.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

"He got me all right," he announced, pointing to the torn trousers and undercloths, and the growing stain of red.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Oh, if you knew how my heart is torn.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I could see that the poor dear was torn about in his mind.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The first is that an asteroid came too close to the supermassive black hole and was torn apart by gravity.

(NASA’s Chandra Detects Record-Breaking Outburst from Milky Way’s Black Hole, NASA)

Scientists using NASA's repurposed Kepler space telescope, known as the K2 mission, have uncovered strong evidence of a tiny, rocky object being torn apart as it spirals around a white dwarf star.

(K2 Finds Dead Star Vaporizing a Mini 'Planet', NASA)

I have seen a man's tongue torn from his jaws for less.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But his proud heart could not permit his title to be torn from him without a struggle.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)