Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. synonym: break.
- intransitive verb To damage seriously; disable.
- intransitive verb To cause the destruction or ruin of; destroy.
- intransitive verb To break into pieces; smash or burst.
- noun A fragment or splinter.
- noun A scattering collection or spray of fragments.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To scatter; disperse.
- To break or rend in pieces, as by a single blow; rend, split, or rive into splinters, flinders, or fragments.
- To break; disorder; derange; impair; destroy: as, shattered nerves; a constitution shattered by dissipation.
- Synonyms Smash, etc. See
dash . - To scatter; fly apart; be broken or rent into fragments.
- Of cereals, to scatter the grain on account of overripeness.
- Of soils, to fall into flakes or meal-like particles from the action of the weather instead of harsh angular particles as when broken by implements.
- noun One part of many into which anything is 'broken; a fragment: used chiefly in the plural, and in the phrase to break or rend into shatters.
- noun A shattered or impaired state.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied.
- transitive verb To break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into fragments; to rend into splinters
- transitive verb To disorder; to derange; to render unsound.
- transitive verb obsolete To scatter about.
- noun A fragment of anything shattered; -- used chiefly or soley in the phrase
into shatters .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive to
violently break something into pieces. - verb transitive to
destroy ordisable something. - verb intransitive to
smash , or break intotiny pieces. - verb transitive to
dispirit oremotionally defeat - noun archaic A
fragment of anything shattered.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb break into many pieces
- verb damage or destroy
- verb cause to break into many pieces
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“Yeah,” he said, and listened to the word shatter like glass.
Lilith’s Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life Whitley Strieber 2002
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“Yeah,” he said, and listened to the word shatter like glass.
Lilith’s Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life Whitley Strieber 2002
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Today, we have films like “Ringu” (or, for the almost-as-good Americanized version, “The Ring”) that once again shatter the rules of what we know.
A Christmas Clarification joxn 2005
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But I have heard a certain word shatter the chant divine,
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But I have heard a certain word shatter the chant divine,
A Treasury of War Poetry British and American Poems of the World War 1914-1917 George Herbert Clarke 1913
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"We need also to see all the signatures that are consistent with a high velocity impact, like glasses from melting and, of course, debris; and what are called shatter cones (shocked rocks)," he told BBC News.
Signs of the Times 2009
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"We need also to see all the signatures that are consistent with a high velocity impact, like glasses from melting and, of course, debris; and what are called shatter cones (shocked rocks)," he told BBC News.
BBC - Ouch 2009
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NBC's revenue target for the 2008 Games was north of $1 billion, and sales are on pace to "shatter" records from past Olympics, crows Seth Winter, senior vice president, NBC Sports & Olympics.
Ad Track: Retailers gear up for back-to-school spending 2008
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I am sorry, very very sorry, at what you are dealing with, but gloriously pleased that you are around and giving life a good punch whenever you can, and I hold you in my thoughts when you "shatter" which I now see is often in between boxing bouts ?
Neurological Conditions: fatigue and extreme fatigue Elizabeth McClung 2007
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The over-run attempt was an attempt at a "shatter".
THE NEWS BLOG 2004
alexz commented on the word shatter
a solid form of BHO "Butane extracted Hash Oil"
also budder amd earwax for softer forms. - Rolling Stone magazine - June 2013
August 27, 2015