shatter

shat·ter

Use shatter in a sentence

Glass shattered by a baseball.

noun

Shatter means broken pieces.
An example of shatter is an area of broken pieces of glass.

verb

Shatter is defined as to smash or break into many pieces.
An example of shatter is to break a window by throwing a baseball into the top of the window.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"shatter." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 July 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER>.

APA Style

shatter. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER

shatter

Obs. to scatter; strew
to break or burst into pieces suddenly, as with a blow
to damage severely; destroy or wreck: the accident shattered her peace of mind

Origin of shatter

Middle English schateren, variant, variety of scateren, to scatter

to break or burst into pieces; smash

[pl.] broken pieces: chiefly in in (or into) shatters

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"shatter." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 July 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER>.

APA Style

shatter. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER

shatter

verb

shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters

verb

transitive

To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. See Synonyms at break.
a. To damage seriously; disable: His health was shattered by the disease.
b. To cause the destruction or ruin of; destroy: The outcome of the conflict shattered our dreams of peace and prosperity.

verb

intransitive

To break into pieces; smash or burst: The glass shattered when it hit the floor.

noun

often shatters A fragment or splinter: a rare piece of porcelain now in shatters.
A scattering collection or spray of fragments: “A window broke into a shatter of glass” ( Rosemund Pilcher )

Origin of shatter

Middle English schateren from Old English sceaterian to scatter

Related Forms:

shat′ter·ing·ly
adverb

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Link/Cite

Link to this page

Cite this page

MLA Style

"shatter." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 July 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER>.

APA Style

shatter. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/SHATTER

Verb

(third-person singular simple present shatters, present participle shattering, simple past and past participle shattered)

to violently break something into pieces.
The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks.
a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass
The old oak tree has been shattered by lightning.
to destroy or disable something.
(intransitive) to smash, or break into tiny pieces.
to dispirit or emotionally defeat
to be shattered in intellect; to have shattered hopes, or a shattered constitution

Noun

(plural shatters)

(archaic) A fragment of anything shattered.
to break a glass into shatters

Origin

From Middle English schateren (“to scatter, dash"), an assilibated form of Middle English scateren ("to scatter"; see scatter), from Old English *scaterian, scateran. Cognate with Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing"), Low German schateren, Albanian shkatÃ«rroj (“to destroy, devastate").

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.