Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. synonym: break.
  • intransitive verb To damage seriously; disable.
  • intransitive verb To cause the destruction or ruin of; destroy.
  • intransitive verb To break into pieces; smash or burst.
  • noun A fragment or splinter.
  • noun A scattering collection or spray of fragments.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One part of many into which anything is 'broken; a fragment: used chiefly in the plural, and in the phrase to break or rend into shatters.
  • noun A shattered or impaired state.
  • Of cereals, to scatter the grain on account of overripeness.
  • Of soils, to fall into flakes or meal-like particles from the action of the weather instead of harsh angular particles as when broken by implements.
  • To scatter; disperse.
  • To break or rend in pieces, as by a single blow; rend, split, or rive into splinters, flinders, or fragments.
  • To break; disorder; derange; impair; destroy: as, shattered nerves; a constitution shattered by dissipation.
  • Synonyms Smash, etc. See dash.
  • To scatter; fly apart; be broken or rent into fragments.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To be broken into fragments; to fall or crumble to pieces by any force applied.
  • noun A fragment of anything shattered; -- used chiefly or soley in the phrase into shatters.
  • transitive verb To break at once into many pieces; to dash, burst, or part violently into fragments; to rend into splinters
  • transitive verb To disorder; to derange; to render unsound.
  • transitive verb obsolete To scatter about.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive to violently break something into pieces.
  • verb transitive to destroy or disable something.
  • verb intransitive to smash, or break into tiny pieces.
  • verb transitive to dispirit or emotionally defeat
  • noun archaic A fragment of anything shattered.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb break into many pieces
  • verb damage or destroy
  • verb cause to break into many pieces

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English schateren, from Old English *sceaterian, to scatter.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English scateren. Cognate with Albanian shkatërroj ("to destroy, devastate").

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Examples

  • “Yeah,” he said, and listened to the word shatter like glass.

    Lilith’s Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life Whitley Strieber 2002

  • “Yeah,” he said, and listened to the word shatter like glass.

    Lilith’s Dream: A Tale of the Vampire Life Whitley Strieber 2002

  • Today, we have films like “Ringu” (or, for the almost-as-good Americanized version, “The Ring”) that once again shatter the rules of what we know.

    A Christmas Clarification joxn 2005

  • But I have heard a certain word shatter the chant divine,

    The Soul of Jeanne d'Arc 1917

  • But I have heard a certain word shatter the chant divine,

    A Treasury of War Poetry British and American Poems of the World War 1914-1917 George Herbert Clarke 1913

  • "We need also to see all the signatures that are consistent with a high velocity impact, like glasses from melting and, of course, debris; and what are called shatter cones (shocked rocks)," he told BBC News.

    Signs of the Times 2009

  • "We need also to see all the signatures that are consistent with a high velocity impact, like glasses from melting and, of course, debris; and what are called shatter cones (shocked rocks)," he told BBC News.

    BBC - Ouch 2009

  • NBC's revenue target for the 2008 Games was north of $1 billion, and sales are on pace to "shatter" records from past Olympics, crows Seth Winter, senior vice president, NBC Sports & Olympics.

    Ad Track: Retailers gear up for back-to-school spending 2008

  • I am sorry, very very sorry, at what you are dealing with, but gloriously pleased that you are around and giving life a good punch whenever you can, and I hold you in my thoughts when you "shatter" which I now see is often in between boxing bouts ?

    Neurological Conditions: fatigue and extreme fatigue Elizabeth McClung 2007

  • The over-run attempt was an attempt at a "shatter".

    THE NEWS BLOG 2004

Comments

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  • a solid form of BHO "Butane extracted Hash Oil"

    also budder amd earwax for softer forms. - Rolling Stone magazine - June 2013

    August 27, 2015