shattered

1. 1
   adjective

   Broken into many pieces, usually as a result of force or a hard impact.

   Shattered fragments of the windshield lay across the highway.

   The vase fell from the shelf and lay shattered on the tiles.

   Similarbroken, fractured, busted, ruptured

   Oppositeintact, whole, unbroken

   Note

   The adjective keeps the force of the verb: what is shattered has been broken by impact, not worn away. It reaches beyond glass and bone to groups of people as well. Harold Bindloss's The Dust of Conflict (1907) has a "shattered leading company" of soldiers, broken apart under fire. Fractured can describe a single break, but shattered means many pieces.

2. 2
   adjective

   Emotionally crushed and left feeling defeated or deeply discouraged.

   She was shattered when she heard that the project had been canceled.

   He felt completely shattered in the weeks after the breakup.

   Similardejected, depressed, disheartened, downcast, dispirited

   Oppositeelated, overjoyed, thrilled

   Note

   It usually follows be or feel and describes a person after a loss. Lionel Robbins says John Stuart Mill "was shattered" when his wife died, then repeats the word to show it was no exaggeration. Before a noun it attaches to the part of the self that breaks, as in Dia Frampton's "the shattered heart." Despondent and disheartened are quieter words, while shattered keeps the image of something in pieces.

3. 3
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of shatter.

   The explosion shattered windows across the entire block.

   Years of broken promises had shattered their friendship beyond repair.

   Note

   One spelling does two grammatical jobs: the bare past (the glass shattered) and the participle after have or be (had shattered, was shattered). Because shatter is both transitive and intransitive, a thing can shatter on its own or be shattered by something else. Once the participle takes more, most or very, it has crossed into the adjective, as in the emotional sense.

   The glass shattered the moment it hit the stone floor.

   Every window on the street was shattered by the blast.

4. 4
   adjectivecolloquialBritish

   Extremely tired or completely worn out.

   By the end of the night shift she was utterly shattered.

   We hiked for nine hours and arrived back shattered.

   Similarexhausted, tired, drained, weary, spent

   Oppositerested, energized

   Note

   This is British colloquial speech, most at home in the first person after a long day: I'm shattered, I'm completely shattered. Intensifiers like completely and utterly sit naturally with it. Because the emotional meaning uses the same frame, "I'm shattered" can mean either grief or tiredness. Context settles it, and a night shift or a nine-hour hike points to exhaustion.

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