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shattering

shattering

17 4.2
Breaking something into many small pieces with sudden force
  • noun
  • /ˈʃætərɪŋ/
translation icon : rotura
  • The loss of land, resources, relatives, and heritage all contributed to a shattering of the Anishinaabe world.
  • world-shattering

Tragedy is the attachment to forms and the shattering of that attachment.

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Examples

  • The tink of BBs on tin cans, the shattering of glass bottles.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Denise heard the twisting of metal and the shattering of glass.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Much research remains to be done, however, on the problem of seed shattering before and during harvest.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The jolt of the impact and the sudden flipping upside down; a scraping of metal and a shattering of glass.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • With Stephen Smith, history was the shattering of the glass in which Clive of India and the imperial banditry beheld themselves.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • To generalize, Hyena and Hare's tale, like other tales about the shattering of a community, bears a warning.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The shattering of the vase echoed through the room as it hit the floor.

  • When the car crashed, the shattering of the windshield startled everyone nearby.

  • The shattering of the ice beneath their feet signaled danger and prompted them to retreat.

Synonyms

breaking
vsshattering
224 1.7

To cause something to fall into pieces or become damaged

specifies sudden, forceful action that makes many small pieces
cracking
vsshattering
21 3.5

The sharp noise something makes when it breaks

means a full sudden breaking into many pieces rather than a small rupture
smashing
vsshattering
9 3.9

Breaking something into small pieces by force

highlights suddenness as well as force in the action
disintegration
vsshattering
6 6.2

Something breaks into smaller pieces and falls apart

refers to a sudden forceful act that quickly makes many small pieces
fragmentation
vsshattering
5 6.3

Breaking something into small pieces, often by force

refers to the sudden act that makes many small pieces
splintering
vsshattering
3 4.6

An act of wood breaking that sends out small sharp pieces

describes a sudden violent break into pieces rather than slow chipping
breakage
vsshattering
2 4.4

Damage that makes something in pieces or not usable

focuses on the sudden act and force that create small fragments
atomization
vsshattering
  • Specialized
1 7.6

To break a liquid into very small droplets for spraying

denotes breaking into small pieces, not necessarily into powder or droplets
sharding
vsshattering
8.8

The breaking of something into many sharp pieces that can cut you

focuses on sudden force causing many small pieces rather than sharpness
crumbling
vsshattering
3.9

The process of breaking into small pieces and falling apart

refers to sudden forceful breaking rather than slow disintegration

Antonyms

352 2.3

Work done to fix something that is broken

Compounds

Very important and surprising in a way that changes what happens

Very important and likely to change many things

News that makes you feel very sad and shocked

How Violent

shattering
17 4.2
to smash
311 2.1
to snap
167 2.3
to break
1.0

Surface Forms

shattering singular
shatterings plural

Morphology

shattering = shatter (transparent) = shatter + ing

A standard gerund/nominalization from the verb 'shatter' meaning 'the act of breaking into pieces', so the noun's meaning is directly derived.

Etymology

Shattering comes from the verb shatter, which means 'to break into many pieces'. Think of a vase falling and breaking into small, sharp pieces, and you have the idea of the sudden act of breaking that shattering describes.