tearing
/ˈtɛɹ.ɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
tearing is spelled T-E-A-R-I-N-G: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, tearing means “enormous; of great size or impact” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in tearing?
| Letters | 7: T-E-A-R-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 6.2 times per million words; the 9,735th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is tearing?
Tearing appears 6.2 times per million words in written English, the 9,735th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce tearing?
- UK /ˈtɛə.ɹɪŋ/
- US /ˈtɛɹ.ɪŋ/
As a noun (“continuous shedding of tears; epiphora”): /ˈtɪə.ɹɪŋ/, /ˈtɪɹ.ɪŋ/.
Tearing has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tearing.wav, En-us-tearing.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-tearing2.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with tearing?
9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as tearing from its last stressed vowel (/ɛɹɪŋ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: granite, ingrate.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of tearing
- tearings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does tearing mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
colloquialenormous; of great size or impact
a tearing great giant of a man
- 2
colloquialvery hasty
a tearing hurry
noun
- 1
The act by which something is torn; a laceration.
- 2
Distortion of an animated display when the contents of the framebuffer are rendered while it contains portions of two or more frames.
- 3
continuous shedding of tears; epiphora
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of tear
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).