Definition of SHATTER

shatter

Plural: shatters

Verb

Verb Forms: shattered, shattering, shatters

  • To break into many pieces suddenly and violently.
  • break into many pieces
    • "The wine glass shattered"
  • damage or destroy
    • "The news of her husband's death shattered her life"
  • cause to break into many pieces
    • "shatter the plate"
  • To violently break something into pieces.
  • To destroy or disable something.
  • To smash, or break into tiny pieces.
  • To dispirit or emotionally defeat.
  • Of seeds: to be dispersed upon ripening.
  • To scatter about.

Noun

  • A fragment of anything shattered.
  • A (pine) needle.
  • A form of concentrated cannabis.

Examples

  • a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass
  • His hopes would shatter if he couldn’t find a place for his ’Z’ in Words With Friends.
  • The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks.
  • The old oak tree has been shattered by lightning.
  • to be shattered in intellect
  • to break a glass into shatters
  • to have a shattered constitution
  • to have shattered hopes

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English schateren (“to scatter, dash”), an assibilated form of Middle English scateren ("to scatter"; see scatter), from Old English scaterian, from Proto-Germanic *skat- (“to smash, scatter”), perhaps ultimately imitative. Cognate with Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”), Low German schateren, Albanian shkatërroj (“to destroy, devastate”). Doublet of scatter.

Synonyms

shat, shiver

Scrabble Score: 10

shatter: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
shatter: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
shatter: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

shatter: valid Words With Friends Word