Definition of shard
1a : a piece or fragment of a brittle substance shards of glass; broadly : a small piece or part : scrap little shards of time and space recorded by the camera's lens — Rosalind Kraussb : shell, scale; especially : elytron
2 or sherdplay \ˈshərd\ : a fragment of a pottery vessel found on sites and in refuse deposits where pottery-making peoples have lived
3 : highly angular curved glass fragments of tuffaceous sediments
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Recent Examples of shard from the Web
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The Shard, an iconic skyscraper close to London Bridge, the Sun reported.
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Up in the air, tiny shards of the airborne glass can wreak havoc on planes, melting inside jet engines and blocking fuel nozzles.
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The original 81 shards of the Antikythera were recovered from under the sea (near the Greek island of Antikythera) in 1902, rusted and clumped together in a nearly indecipherable mass.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shard'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Shard dates back to Old English (where it was spelled sceard), and it is related to the Old English word scieran, meaning "to cut." English speakers have adopted the modernized shard spelling for most uses, but archeologists prefer to spell the word sherd when referring to the ancient fragments of pottery they unearth. Other specialized uses of the word shard include a sense referring to the thick front wings in beetles that protect a hind pair of wings and another sense used for the highly angular curved glass fragments of a type of volcanic rock formation.
Origin and Etymology of shard
Middle English, from Old English sceard; akin to Old English scieran to cut — more at shear
First Known Use: before 12th century
SHARD Defined for English Language Learners
shard
playDefinition of shard for English Language Learners
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: a sharp piece of something (such as glass or pottery)
SHARD Defined for Kids
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See words that rhyme with shard Spanish Central: Translation of shard Nglish: Translation of shard for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of shard for Arabic speakers
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