shear off
verb
sheared off; sheared off or shorn off; shearing off; shears off
1
: to become separated suddenly because of great force
The excess weight caused the bolt to shear off.
2
: to remove (something) with great force
The impact of the crash sheared off the airplane's wing.
Examples of shear off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The gas meters from the homes were also sheared off in the crash, which caused a natural gas leak, according to Looney.
—
Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 16 Apr. 2026
On Monday evening, a EF-2 tornado from the west swept through four blocks of the Franklin County seat, effectively destroying TruComp’s 76,000-square-foot building, shearing off its front and blasting its east side into mounds of bricks, insulation and twisted metal.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2026
The crash sheared off the nose of the Air Canada jet.
—Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 25 Mar. 2026
The collision appears to have sheared off the plane’s nose cone.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shear off
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Tom Ignudo, CBS News, 16 Apr. 2026
On Monday evening, a EF-2 tornado from the west swept through four blocks of the Franklin County seat, effectively destroying TruComp’s 76,000-square-foot building, shearing off its front and blasting its east side into mounds of bricks, insulation and twisted metal.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 16 Apr. 2026
The crash sheared off the nose of the Air Canada jet.
—Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News, 25 Mar. 2026
The collision appears to have sheared off the plane’s nose cone.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for shear off
Cite this Entry
“Shear off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shear%20off. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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