shatter

SHAT-ur/ˈʃæt.ɚ/UKSHAT-uh/ˈʃæt.ə(ɹ)/

Verbshatters, shattering, shattered

Noun pluralshatters (some meanings)

11 meanings of shatter

Practice

1
verbtransitive
To break something into many small pieces with force.
Like dropping a plate so it breaks into many pieces.
A single stone can shatter a glass window.
The blast shattered every window on the street.
Similarsmash, break, splinter, fracture
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2
verbintransitive
To break suddenly into many tiny pieces.
Like an icicle breaking into bits when it falls.
The glass shattered when it hit the floor.
Thin ice can shatter under a person's weight.
Similarsmash, break, splinter, disintegrate
3
verbtransitive
To make someone lose all their hope or courage.
Like a balloon popping, so all the good feeling is gone at once.
The bad news shattered her completely.
Losing the match can shatter a young player's confidence.
Similardevastate, crush, break, destroy
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4
verbtransitive
To destroy something or stop it from working.
Like knocking down a tower of blocks so it falls apart.
The scandal shattered his career overnight.
One mistake can shatter a fragile peace deal.
Similardestroy, ruin, wreck, devastate
5
nounslanguncountable
A hard, see-through kind of strong cannabis.
Like a thin sheet of hard candy you can break apart.
He kept a small piece of shatter in a glass jar.
Shatter snaps into pieces because it is so brittle.
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6
verbintransitive
To fall down, either heavily or in scattered drops.
Like rain coming down hard against a window.
Rain shattered against the windowpanes all night.
Leaves shatter to the ground in a sudden gust of wind.
Similarfall, drop
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7
verbintransitive
Used about seeds, to drop from the plant and spread out once they are ripe.
Like a dandelion losing its seeds into the wind.
Wild grasses shatter as soon as the seeds ripen.
The wheat shattered before the farmer could harvest it.
Similarshed
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8
nouncountable or uncountable
A small amount of something spread around, like a few drops of rain.
Like a light sprinkle of salt over your food.
A shatter of rain fell as the clouds passed over.
She tossed a shatter of seeds across the flowerbed.
Similarscattering, sprinkling, spatter
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9
nouncountable or uncountable
One of the thin, pointed leaves of a pine tree, usually talked about in the plural.
We raked the pine shatters into a big pile by the fence.
A thick layer of pine shatter covered the path through the woods.
Similarneedle
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Less common meanings

10
nounarchaiccountable
A small broken-off piece of something.
Like a tiny chip that breaks off a plate.
A sharp shatter of glass lay on the kitchen floor.
it will fall upon the glass of the sconce, and break it into shatters
1731, [Jonathan] Swift, Directions to ServantsHere, shatters means broken pieces, so the glass breaks into bits.
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11
verbobsoletetransitive
To throw or spread things around in different directions.
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”Here, shatter means scatter, so drop your leaves all around.
Note

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English schateren, meaning "to scatter or dash," going back through Old English to an old Germanic root meaning "to smash or scatter." It may originally have imitated a sound.