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Glite Dictionary
🛠️ To dismantle 🔍 To analyze
to take apart

to take apart

50 3.0
To separate something into parts so it can be moved or fixed
  • phrasal verb
  • /teɪk əˈpɑrt/
translation icon : desmontar
  • Remember how you told me not to take apart your cell phone?
  • carefully take apart

So the Xbox One X that we took apart has an extra screw.

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Examples

  • So I think we need to take it apart and see what's going on.

  • We need to take apart the engine to find out what is wrong.

  • So I need to take apart a couple more shoes.

    GQ

  • You have to take that one apart and put it back together.

  • We have to take the whole machine apart.

    Babes in Toyland (1997)

  • Why are you taking that apart?

    Dead Ringers (1988)

  • All right, let's take this all apart and see what we got.

  • Why did you take apart the toaster?

    End of the World (2018)

  • The children "make messes," take things apart, explore, imagine, and learn.

    Academic text (2003)

  • So let's take this apart and figure out what was Chadwick saying.

Synonyms

to break down
vsto take apart
213 2.8

To separate something into smaller parts to explain or study it

is the basic action of separating something into component parts
to break up
vsto take apart
66 2.7

Separate something into smaller pieces

is more neutral and means to separate into parts rather than end something
to dismantle
vsto take apart
64 4.2

Take something apart into separate pieces

is broader and means to separate something into parts
to take down
vsto take apart
46 3.0

To remove something that is fixed or standing, for example stage equipment

focuses on separating something into parts rather than removal from position
to break apart
vsto take apart
26 3.0

To separate into pieces, for example a machine or a group

is the neutral action of separating into parts without metaphorical use
to pull apart
vsto take apart
21 3.2

To break something into pieces by hand

does not require a pulling method and means general separation into parts
to disassemble
vsto take apart
19 3.8

To take something apart into separate pieces

is the general term for separating something into parts

Antonyms

to construct
201 3.5

To build something by joining parts or materials

to assemble
169 2.9

To put parts together to make something like a machine or toy

How Disassembled

to take apart
50 3.0
to unscrew
20 3.0
to loosen
15 2.8

Surface Forms

take apart infinitive
taking apart present participle
takes apart third person singular
took apart past
taken apart past participle

Morphology

take + apart

The meaning 'to examine or analyze by dividing into parts' is directly derivable from combining 'take' (to remove or handle) with 'apart' (into separate pieces); the particle 'apart' transparently signals separation. This verb+particle composition and its extension to inspecting/disassembling is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will usually infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Take apart comes from the simple idea of taking something and pulling it apart into pieces, like unscrewing a bed frame or opening a radio to move or fix it. That's why it means 'to separate something into its parts'.