to shatter the ice
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
romper el hielo
- A funny joke at the start of the meeting helped to shatter the ice among the team members.
Examples
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Her warm greeting was enough to shatter the ice and get everyone talking.
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He always knows how to shatter the ice at parties.
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He tried using humor to shatter the ice on the first day of class.
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Did she shatter the ice with her joke?
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A funny joke at the start of the meeting helped to shatter the ice among the team members.
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He tried using humor to shatter the ice on the first day of class.
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Her warm greeting was enough to shatter the ice and get everyone talking.
How Comfortable
Surface Forms
Morphology
shatter + the + ice
The meaning is a metaphorical extension of the literal image of breaking/shattering ice to remove a barrier between people; a learner who knows 'shatter' and 'ice' can access the basic physical image. However, the jump from that image to the conventional social meaning (relieving awkwardness or initiating interaction) is partly idiomatic and not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Shatter the ice uses the image of hard, frozen ice between people: to shatter it is to break that barrier so people can come together. That's why it means 'to relieve the first awkwardness or tension' and help people start talking.