All phrasal verbs

apart

/əpɑrt/6 verbsVowel-initial — links backwards

A whole becomes separate parts.

A small, consistent family: fall apart, take apart, come apart, tell apart, grow apart. Every one of them is about a unity ceasing to be one thing.

Tell apart is the odd member — the separation there is mental, distinguishing two things rather than physically splitting one.

What it does to the sound

Unstressed schwa first, stress on PART: a-PART. Ends in /rt/, which flaps when a vowel follows — tell them apart at last.

What APART means

Disintegrating

Something breaks into pieces, physically or emotionally.

Dismantling deliberately

You separate the parts on purpose.

Distinguishing

You perceive the difference between two similar things.

Every verb that takes APART

The complete list — 6 of them. The section above groups the common ones by what APART is doing.

The particle APART — what it does to a verb