Definitions

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

  • verb Present participle of shatter.

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

  • noun the act of breaking something into small pieces
  • adjective seemingly loud enough to break something; violently rattling or clattering

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In this particular instance, the sound of glass shattering is well over 120 decibels …

    Think Progress » ThinkFast: February 23, 2010 2010

  • Really earth shattering is this   SEO gets its own song on YouTube.

    Google Hits a High Note with New Music Onebox 2007

  • While my comments today should not be construed as being earth shattering from a world perspective, the organization I represent, the Canadian Football League, has and continues to play a role in the shaping of our country.

    The Future of the Canadian Football League 2003

  • It was granted to today's Nobel Prize winner, Professor Fermi, to succeed in shattering even the heavier and the heaviest elements in the Periodic System.

    Nobel Prize in Physics 1938 - Presentation Speech 1965

  • The only way we’re going to rebuild after the present and coming political shattering is through honest reckoning, and taking responsibility for what we’ve done.

    Matthew Yglesias » Listen to the Man 2007

  • You honor the memory of three generations of Jordanians who gave their lives in defense of your country -- what Your Majesty has called the shattering toll in blood and tears, the waste of youth and the grief of our forefathers.

    Remarks By President To Jordanian Parliament ITY National Archives 1994

  • And then she found that the shattering was the goal.

    Temptation's Price Schulze, Dallas 1992

  • And when enough Riflemen had fallen the cavalry charge would split the weakened square with the ease of a sword shattering a rotten apple.

    Sharpe's Rifles Cornwell, Bernard 1988

  • Watching this "shattering" production, he confesses, "my face became streaked with tears."

    What to say about ... All My Sons 2010

  • Insane southpaw Bill "Spaceman" Lee once described Boston Red Sox baseball (pre-2004, of course) as high tragic opera, the kind of shattering long-running mental and emotional experience that leaves one with arms flung heavenward screaming, "Why, God, why?"

    Pass the Ball for Victory? 2009

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