come apart—
1. fall into pieces; disintegrate:
- I swear I didn’t drop the plate: it just came apart in my hands!
2. become detached from smth.:
- All pages are intact, except for the outside cover which has come apart from the binding.
3. separate; diverge:
- Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams record “Kids” together. After that their roads come apart again.
4. (of a plan, scheme, etc.) prove deficient:
- When we were sitting at the marble-topped table my plans began to come apart.
go apart—
1. = come apart 2:
- Middleton Hall has now gone apart from the servant’s block, while other buildings and yards survive.
2. = come apart 3:
- In the 16th century the forms pike and peak appear to have gone apart in sense, pike being confined more to a sharp piercing.