DictionaryAI

smashing

USSMASH-ing/ˈsmæʃɪŋ/

Noun pluralsmashings (some meanings)

11 meanings of smashing

Practice

  1. 1
    adjectiveBritishIreland
    Very good, enjoyable, or impressive.

    We had a smashing day out at the seaside.

    Your new bike looks absolutely smashing!

    Similarwonderful, splendid, terrific, superb, marvelous

    Oppositeawful, dreadful, terrible, dismal

    Note
  2. 2
    verb
    Present participle of smash. Use it after am, is, are, was or were, or to name the action.

    The kids were smashing their old toys on the floor.

    Waves kept smashing against the side of the boat.

    Note
  3. 3
    noununcountable
    The act of breaking something brittle into pieces in a violent way.

    The smashing of the glass woke everyone in the house.

    The smashing of the museum's display cases shocked the whole city.

    Similarshattering, breaking, breakage

  4. 4
    nouncountable or uncountable
    A very hard hit against something.

    The smashing of the ball over the fence ended the game.

    One smashing of his fist against the table silenced the room.

    Similarslamming, pounding, hammering, blow, strike

  5. 5
    noununcountable
    The breaking apart of something into pieces by being hit hard.

    The smashing of the sandcastle left only a scatter of wet sand.

    Repeated smashing reduced the discarded television to fragments.

    Similardestruction, demolition, wrecking, shattering, breaking

    Oppositerestoration, repair, construction

  6. 6
    noununcountable
    The sudden and complete ruin of something.

    The smashing of his dreams came in a single moment.

    The market crash brought the smashing of countless fortunes overnight.

    Similarruin, ruination, destruction, wrecking, collapse

    Oppositerevival, restoration

  7. 7
    adjective
    Used to break something apart with a hard, forceful hit.

    He delivered a smashing blow to the locked door.

    The boxer landed a smashing right hook in the final round.

    Similarcrushing, shattering, devastating, violent, powerful

    Oppositeglancing, gentle, light

  8. 8
    noununcountable
    The crushing of something out of shape by steady pressure.

    The smashing of the cans in the crusher produced flat metal blocks.

    Slow smashing under the heavy roller flattened the soft clay.

    Similarcrushing, pressing, squashing, compression, flattening

  9. 9
    nouncolloquialidiomaticcountable
    A great win or huge success.

    Their final performance was a smashing, and the crowd roared for an encore.

    The fundraiser turned out to be a smashing for the small charity.

    Similartriumph, success, hit, sensation, landslide

    Oppositeflop, failure, defeat, fiasco

  10. 10
    nounslangvulgarcountable
    A rude slang word for an act of sex between people.

    He treated the whole evening as nothing more than a quick smashing.

    Their relationship never went beyond the occasional drunken smashing.

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 11
    nounarchaic
    A terrible failure or sudden collapse of something.

    The bank's fall was a smashing that ruined half the town's traders.

    His grand venture ended in a complete smashing within the year.

    Note

smashing is a form of smash

smash, verb: To break something hard into pieces with great force. Full entry

Forms
smashsmashes he/she/itsmashing -ing formsmashed past tense, past participle
Spelling
smash → smashing: add -ing

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of smashing apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From smash plus -ing. As a word meaning wonderful, it first appeared in the United States in the early 1900s, maybe from the smash in 'smash hit'.

Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts