Meaning

(transitive) To violently break something into pieces..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To violently break something into pieces.
2. (transitive) To destroy or disable something.
3. (intransitive) To smash, or break into tiny pieces.
4. (transitive) To dispirit or emotionally defeat.
5. (intransitive, agriculture) Of seeds: to disperse (become dispersed) upon ripening.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To scatter about.
7. (intransitive, of rain) To fall sometimes connoting hard, as if to smash something, other times light and dispersed.
8. (countable, archaic) A fragment of anything shattered.

Example Sentences

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 be shattered in intellect

to have shattered hopes

to have a shattered constitution

a man of a loose, volatile, and shatter'd humour

Your death will shatter him. Which is what I want. Actually, I would prefer to kill him.

Word Forms

• shatters
• shattering
• shattered

Synonyms for shatter

Related Words

When Should You Use Shatter?

Use shatter when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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