as in slivers
a small sharp piece of something (such as glass or pottery)
Watch out for the shards of glass on the floor.
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Recent Examples of shards
After sweeping up broken glass, tiny, almost-invisible shards often remain behind.
—
Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 11 Apr. 2026
There may be no documents in the libraries, but the trees hold bits and shards of this land’s collective memory.
—Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
Twenty-thousand-year-old shards of clay pots have been unearthed in China.
—Abbey Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 9 Apr. 2026
Cristobal’s arc can use a mite more variance overall, but her playing of Margot’s inner-torture from having to live with the literal shards of blood on her neck is effective.
—David John Chávez, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2026
Most of those issues have been from oil, lubrication, other or casing or shards inside the engines.
—Joel Feder, The Drive, 26 Mar. 2026
In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk.
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
Security footage provided by Elfvin shows the robot rolling directly into the side panel of a bus shelter, which shatters and showers the robot and sidewalk around it with what appears to be glass shards.
—Talia Soglin, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Cut into individual pieces or break into rustic shards.
—Marianne Williams, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2026
Jamie Cuccinelli, Martha Stewart, 11 Apr. 2026
There may be no documents in the libraries, but the trees hold bits and shards of this land’s collective memory.
—Literary Hub, 10 Apr. 2026
Twenty-thousand-year-old shards of clay pots have been unearthed in China.
—Abbey Stone, Bon Appetit Magazine, 9 Apr. 2026
Cristobal’s arc can use a mite more variance overall, but her playing of Margot’s inner-torture from having to live with the literal shards of blood on her neck is effective.
—David John Chávez, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2026
Most of those issues have been from oil, lubrication, other or casing or shards inside the engines.
—Joel Feder, The Drive, 26 Mar. 2026
In a viral video of the aftermath, the robot jerks back and forth to shake the glass off, showering yet more dangerous shards onto the sidewalk.
—Frank Landymore, Futurism, 26 Mar. 2026
Security footage provided by Elfvin shows the robot rolling directly into the side panel of a bus shelter, which shatters and showers the robot and sidewalk around it with what appears to be glass shards.
—Talia Soglin, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2026
Cut into individual pieces or break into rustic shards.
—Marianne Williams, Southern Living, 14 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shards
Noun
-
How much America’s Culinary Cup relies on head-to-head cook-offs to send people home gives all those slivers of information a little more urgency, though.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
12 Mar. 2026
-
On the tea-time menu that Wednesday is Vazhakkai Bajji, green plantain slivers folded into spicy chickpea batter, deep-fried a crisp orange-brown and presented on a banana leaf with a coconut dipping chutney on the side.—
Kalpana Mohan,
Mercury News,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
There is also a black ceramic bowl, fragments of obsidian, and several blades with the altar.—
Leigh Anne Miller,
ARTnews.com,
13 Apr. 2026
-
Gravel is a mixture of small natural rock fragments that are sourced from quarries or riverbeds.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
12 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Take a room full of particles, for instance, where half of the particles are cold (low in kinetic energy, moving slowly, with a long timescale in between collisions) and half of the particles are hot (high in kinetic energy, moving rapidly, with short timescales separating successive collisions).—
Big Think,
Big Think,
9 Apr. 2026
-
As free quarks cannot exist in isolation, quarks produced from the vacuum immediately combine into composite particles called hyperons.—
Chris Young,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Keep an eye out for tiny brown or orange specks, especially around door edges, undercarriage, and seams.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
Freep.com,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Keep an eye out for tiny brown or orange specks, especially around door edges, undercarriage and seams.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
USA Today,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Its design, crafted by Russell Sage Studio, is meant to be an on-the-nose reflection of the distillery's famed product, with bronzy walls the color of its single malt, and a ceiling painted to look like barley, reflecting the morning dew with flecks of gold throughout.—
Alessandra Amodio,
Travel + Leisure,
9 Apr. 2026
-
Berber carpet Berber is a type of loop pile carpet with flecks of color.—
Faith Wakefield,
USA Today,
12 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
While the storm is looming, there are new glimmers of possibility—friends can become lovers, strangers can become friends on the subway, the supermarket aisles are charged with meaning.—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
-
But there are glimmers of hope beyond the carnage, too.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
30 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Harry & Meghan and With Love, Meghan represent Archewell Productions’ biggest splashes in Hollywood by far, but the company has also had its hands in an array of other documentaries, the most recent of which, Cookie Queens, premiered at Sundance in January.—
Erin Vanderhoof,
Vanity Fair,
7 Apr. 2026
-
The dramatist’s mode is broader and brasher, calculated for the sweep of the stage rather than the close-up, with splashes of color and humor that can verge on camp.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
About 80 times heavier than protons, W bosons are among the heaviest of nature’s fundamental particles, which can’t be broken down into smaller bits.—
Clara Moskowitz,
Scientific American,
10 Apr. 2026
-
There may be no documents in the libraries, but the trees hold bits and shards of this land’s collective memory.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shards.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shards. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.
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