shatter
Americanverb (used with object)
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to break (something) into pieces, as by a blow.
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to damage, as by breaking or crushing.
ships shattered by storms.
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to impair or destroy (health, nerves, etc.).
The incident shattered his composure.
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to weaken, destroy, or refute (ideas, opinions, etc.).
He wanted to shatter her illusions.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
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to break or be broken into many small pieces
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(tr) to impair or destroy
his nerves were shattered by the torture
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(tr) to dumbfound or thoroughly upset
she was shattered by the news
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informal (tr) to cause to be tired out or exhausted
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an obsolete word for scatter
noun
Related Words
See break.
Other Word Forms
- nonshatter noun
- nonshattering adjective
- shatterer noun
- shattering adjective
- shatteringly adverb
- unshattered adjective
Etymology
Origin of shatter
1300–50; Middle English schateren < ?; scatter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Further down the leafy street, rows of apartment blocks stood with their windows shattered.
From Barron's
Here, the grapes that tangled themselves around corner-bar trellises all summer fall frozen to the sidewalk, shattering softly underfoot.
From Salon
As Jennifer and Fernando attempt to navigate what it looks like for them to be together, it seems that larger forces will shatter their connection.
From Los Angeles Times
But gone too is a sense that we understand each other’s pasts, and Nicole’s understanding of Birdie shatters into a mess of devotion and anger.
From Los Angeles Times
Just as Grandpa opened the book to the index page, the silence of the library was shattered by the deep voice of Rowdy.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
