as in slivers
a small sharp piece of something (such as glass or pottery)
Watch out for the shards of glass on the floor.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shards
Hall was found dead at a villa with head injuries, the Majorca Daily Bulletin reported, and had shards of glass from a glass door in his chest, per local outlet Ultima Hora.
—
Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
For context, Juszczyk is a 6-foot-1, 235-pound behemoth whose knees probably feel like broken shards of glass at this point in his life.
—Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
These ice chunks, which are also conductors, can stretch into shards.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026
Suddenly, the plane’s landing gear tires struck the truck, shaking it and sending shards of glass flying.
—Sarah Dewberry, CNN Money, 4 May 2026
Keep any broken terra-cotta pots to use as drainage shards in the bottom.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 4 May 2026
The 39-year-old artist was finally gaining recognition abroad for his contorted, geometric sculptures made of thousands of hand-cut mirror shards reaching as high as 27 feet.
—Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Yes, people still get ripped out of a hole in the fuselage like always, but not until after they’ve been obliterated by flying snack carts and diced apart by shards of broken glass.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 28 Apr. 2026
The plainclothes detectives, who were wearing NYPD vests, then dragged Brown on the floor, over shards of broken glass, to the front of the store, ordering him to stop resisting.
—Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 20 Apr. 2026
Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 11 May 2026
For context, Juszczyk is a 6-foot-1, 235-pound behemoth whose knees probably feel like broken shards of glass at this point in his life.
—Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2026
These ice chunks, which are also conductors, can stretch into shards.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026
Suddenly, the plane’s landing gear tires struck the truck, shaking it and sending shards of glass flying.
—Sarah Dewberry, CNN Money, 4 May 2026
Keep any broken terra-cotta pots to use as drainage shards in the bottom.
—Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 4 May 2026
The 39-year-old artist was finally gaining recognition abroad for his contorted, geometric sculptures made of thousands of hand-cut mirror shards reaching as high as 27 feet.
—Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Yes, people still get ripped out of a hole in the fuselage like always, but not until after they’ve been obliterated by flying snack carts and diced apart by shards of broken glass.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 28 Apr. 2026
The plainclothes detectives, who were wearing NYPD vests, then dragged Brown on the floor, over shards of broken glass, to the front of the store, ordering him to stop resisting.
—Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 20 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shards
Noun
-
Wrapped in puff pastry with slivers of jalapeño peppers, these retro pigs in a blanket will disappear fast at any party.—
Shelly Westerhausen Worcel,
Midwest Living,
15 May 2026
-
It’s surrounded by the sea (even the bathtub has a door that opens up to slivers of blue) and feels one with the landscape—in some cases, literally.—
Elly Leavitt,
Vogue,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Pastoral care, safeguarding, academic standards, finance, HR, and operations all have to move as one unit, or the work fragments.—
Dan Fitzpatrick,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
-
Loose bodies are cartilage or bone fragments that float around in the fluid of the elbow joint.—
Assistant Sports Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
18 May 2026
Noun
-
As dust floats through the air, static electricity can attract particles of dirt, pollen, pet dander, and dust that accumulate on the fan blades over time.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
14 May 2026
-
Similar to how cosmic impacts can agitate and heat lunar regolith to liberate trapped particles from the solar wind, machines can do much the same.—
Robin George Andrews,
Scientific American,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
As in Kourliandski’s quartet, specks and splatters of sound are interspersed with silences.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
-
Their faces lost distinction, their bodies smaller and smaller and then only specks in the overvoid.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
18 May 2026
Noun
-
The person who seems least surprised by it all is Matsuzawa, perhaps the league’s only 27-year-old rookie with flecks of gray in his hair.—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
15 May 2026
-
Powerful new lasers and x-rays are enabling geologists like Korolev, a researcher at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, to probe increasingly small flecks of minerals in deep diamonds.—
James Dinneen,
Scientific American,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
While math achievement saw a rebound after the pandemic, reading continued to decline through 2024, with 2025 offering glimmers of a turnaround, the report said.—
Paris Barraza,
USA Today,
14 May 2026
-
The Melissa is a slightly wider shape for more coverage and balance on longer or wider faces, with a chunky gold hinge that glimmers in the sun.—
Kelsey Legg,
ABC News,
13 May 2026
Noun
-
The show combines nontraditional percussion, marshmallows, paint splashes, plumbing, black lights and streaming streamers.—
Dewayne Bevil,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 May 2026
-
You’ll be thrown around in your seat, which moves in sync with the action, along with thumps in the back, splashes of water, blasts of air, smoke, and flashes of light.—
Benny Har-Even,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2026
Noun
-
In between shout-outs from the crowd, Colbert played it straight, rattling off jokes about the day’s headlines, revealing one last First Draft, and sharing shrewd bits of history about The Ed Sullivan Theater.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
22 May 2026
-
Big shot guests popped up in the studio audience, including the actors Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Ryan Reynolds, who did a few bits and pattered about the host going off air; Colbert moved through the usual jokes about the day’s news.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
22 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shards.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shards. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
