shear off
phrasal 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
A day after a jetliner flipped moments after landing in Toronto, what was left of the aircraft remained upside down on Tuesday, its right wing and tail sheared off and the wreckage blocking the two longest runways at Canada’s busiest airport.
—
Vjosa Isai, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2025
The layers can therefore easily slide across one another; the friction of a pencil passing across a sheet of paper is enough to shear off graphene sheets.
—Alexander Sinitskii, IEEE Spectrum, 29 Oct. 2010
The plane's right wing and tail were sheared off during the landing.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2025
The right wing was sheared off as the plane rolled on its back along a tundra-like landscape.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shear off
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Vjosa Isai, New York Times, 18 Feb. 2025
The layers can therefore easily slide across one another; the friction of a pencil passing across a sheet of paper is enough to shear off graphene sheets.
—Alexander Sinitskii, IEEE Spectrum, 29 Oct. 2010
The plane's right wing and tail were sheared off during the landing.
—Tom Rogers, Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2025
The right wing was sheared off as the plane rolled on its back along a tundra-like landscape.
—Ray Sanchez, CNN, 19 Feb. 2025
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 6 May. 2025.
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