fall apart

English

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Verb

fall apart (third-person singular simple present falls apart, present participle falling apart, simple past fell apart, past participle fallen apart) (intransitive)

  1. To disintegrate, to break into pieces.
    My old briefcase is falling apart. I'll have to buy a new one.
    • 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France:
      England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.
    • 2024 September 9, “Network News: Robeston train troubles”, in Rail, page 6:
      It investigated extensive damage caused by a Robeston-Westerleigh train after the brake system under one of its wagons fell apart on October 30 2017.
  2. (idiomatic) To be emotionally in crisis.
    As a result of being addicted to heroin, she was falling apart.

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