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

Instead, Reacher pulls Foster’s head through the bars of his cell, shearing off the man’s ear before tranking the guy with his own gun. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 18 Sep. 2026

The equipment was mutilated and ash-covered, and the digital camera’s lens was sheared off. — Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026

About 900 of those missing are hydropower workers, who were working at facilities dotted along the Trishuli River when a huge chunk of ice sheared off a melting glacier, triggering a landslide and floods which buried entire communities in minutes. — Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 5 Sep. 2026

On top of torrential monsoon rains over the last few weeks, sources interviewed by CNN suspect that an earthquake may be responsible for shearing off a chunk of glacier, which tumbled into a river valley, displacing Biblical volumes of water. — Joe Wilkins, Futurism, 26 Aug. 2026

Rhymes for shear off

• ashraf
• checkoff
• cutoff
• falloff
• handoff
• kickoff
• layoff
• liftoff
• markoff
• markov
• payoff
• playoff