phrasal verb · neutral
come apart
UK/kʌm əˈpɑːt/US/kʌm əˈpɑrt/come·a·PART
speakingtask2
to break into pieces or to fail emotionally
Examples
“The old book fell apart in my hands.”
“After the argument he came apart and started crying.”
“Their plan came apart at the last minute.”
Band 8 sentence
“When the funding was withdrawn, the entire collaborative project came apart despite months of careful planning.”
Collocations
- come apart at the seams
- come apart emotionally
Word family
come apart / came apart / coming apart verb
Common mistakes
The chair came apart easily because it's weak.→The chair came apart easily because it's weak.
It came a part.→It came apart.
Say it for a higher band
5break→6fall apart→7+come apart
Synonyms
fall apart
break into pieces
Easily confused
fall apart
“The old chair fell apart when I leaned on it.”
come undone
“Her shoelace came undone during the race.”
Related words
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In come …
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