To take apart is to separate a machine into its pieces. Every screw out, and laid on a cloth in order if you have any sense.
Putting it back together is the harder half, and the leftover screw is a universal experience. It splits round an object. There is a figurative sense about criticism, since taking an argument apart means demolishing it piece by piece, and sports writing uses it for a heavy defeat. Dismantle is the formal word and strip down is what mechanics say.
1phrasetake apartTo separate something into its component pieces.
“He offered to take apart the carburettor and clean it.”
2phrasedemolishTo demolish an argument or an opponent.
“The barrister will take apart that testimony in minutes.”
Also accepted in games: dismantle, disassemble
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 7 of A Man Called Ove.
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