shrapnel

noun shrap·nel \ ˈshrap-nᵊl , especially Southern ˈsrap- \

|Updated on: 10 Aug 2018

Definition of shrapnel

plural shrapnel

1 : a projectile that consists of a case provided with a powder charge and a large number of usually lead balls and that is exploded in flight

2 : bomb, mine, or shell fragments

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Examples of shrapnel in a Sentence

He has a piece of shrapnel in his leg.
Shrapnel from the explosion wounded many people.

Recent Examples of shrapnel from the Web

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded by shrapnel, the military said, after dozens of mortar bombs and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, triggering warning sirens in southern Israel throughout the day.

— amir cohen and nidal al-mughrabi, The Christian Science Monitor, "Gaza escalates attacks, Israel responds with airstrikes," 29 May 2018
At least 22 people worldwide have been killed and hundreds more permanently disfigured when the air bags that deployed to protect them instead exploded and sprayed shrapnel.

— Anchorage Daily News, "10 years later, thousands of risky air bags are still on the road," 23 Apr. 2018
The Southwest Airlines jet blew the engine at 32,000 feet and got hit by shrapnel that smashed a window, setting off a desperate scramble by passengers to save a woman from getting sucked out.

— Washington Post, "Bank executive killed in jet tragedy remembered as selfless," 18 Apr. 2018
The twin-engine Boeing 737 that left New York with 149 people board was hit by shrapnel that smashed a window and damaged the fuselage, killing a passenger and injuring seven others, authorities said.

— CBS News, "Tammie Jo Shults, pilot of Southwest flight with blown engine, praised for "nerves of steel"," 18 Apr. 2018
The engine on Shults's plane had, in fact, exploded on Tuesday, spraying shrapnel into the aircraft, causing a window to be blown out and leaving one passenger dead and seven others injured.

— the washington post, AL.com, "Tammie Jo Shults, former Navy pilot, called hero of Southwest emergency landing," 18 Apr. 2018
The engine on Shults's plane had, in fact, exploded on Tuesday, spraying shrapnel into the aircraft, causing a window to be blown out and leaving one passenger dead and seven others injured.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "'Nerves of steel': She calmly landed the Southwest flight and broke barriers as a fighter pilot," 18 Apr. 2018
The most significant involves tens of millions of Takata Corp. air bags that risk exploding and spraying shrapnel, a defect linked to 22 deaths, more than 180 injuries and the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.

— mike spector, WSJ, "U.S. Investigates Failing Air Bags in Hyundai, Kia Cars," 19 Mar. 2018
So everybody remembers when that website fell over, caught on fire, shrapnel went everywhere.

— recode staff, Recode, "Full transcript: Matt Cutts of the U.S. Digital Service on Recode Decode," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'shrapnel.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.