shattering

present participle of shatter
1
as in destroying
to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of tried to restore their shattered hopes

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2
as in smashing
to cause to break open or into pieces by or as if by an explosive shattered the sealed clay pot to find out what was inside

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3

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 shattering But recent Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries have led to widespread fuel shortages, shattering the illusion that the consequences of the conflict are far removed from ordinary Russians. — Zahra Ullah, CNN Money, 1 Oct. 2026 My oven is never going to get that same shattering all-over crunch. — Maggie Meyer Glisan, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 Sep. 2026 Man searching with metal detector unearths massive Viking Age fortune, shattering records. — FOXNews.com, 25 Sep. 2026 Last week a number of concerned mathematicians, many of them at the top of their subject, launched the Association for Human Mathematics (AHM)—an effort that was underway even before the earth-shattering Navier-Stokes news. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 14 Sep. 2026 Maya’s fear of commitment mirrors the film’s fear of showing us anything truly ugly or grappling with the idea that our heroine is one of many, many people who lost someone during a society-shattering number of years. — Jourdain Searles, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026 After enduring a record-shattering heat wave this spring, Southern California continued to break temperature records this week when Long Beach and Anaheim reached a blistering 107 degrees and Escondido hit 112 degrees. — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 11 Sep. 2026 So, Peyton and Eli run straight into a window, shattering the glass and parachuting out of the skyscraper. — Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026 In the 1950s and 1960s, the aerospace industry found eggshells’ resistance to shattering to be a useful model when conducting failure analysis studies of the metal shells used to build airplanes. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 8 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shattering
Verb
  • It was defined in a United Nations Convention, adopted in the wake of the Holocaust, as acts that are committed with the intention of destroying — in whole or in part — a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
    — David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Can the product be restored without destroying what still works?
    — Christopher Kiggins, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • But of the leaders of those three mega-bands, perhaps the most mysterious remains Pete Townshend, The Who’s songwriter and enigmatic eminence, thrashing chords and smashing guitars while Roger Daltrey handled lead vocals.
    — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 3 Oct. 2026
  • How would Flock stop someone from smashing a car window in the dead of night on a street where no camera is watching?
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 2 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Seaver also allegedly threatened to start a podcast dedicated to ruining Parton’s image unless he was paid.
    — Allison DeGrushe, StyleCaster, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Even if your appliance feels cool to the touch, warm air rises and can make the top slightly warmer, slowly cooking the wine and ruining the flavor.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 25 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • This is not the first time a coach in LAUSD has gotten into trouble trying to improve a facility, with the district issuing disciplinary action and demolishing the improvement because it was not authorized.
    — Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2026
  • On Thursday, the judge ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days' notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The region has already been saturated by heavy rain over the past months, and regions like New Mexico and Grand Canyon were hit by devastating floods earlier this month.
    — Megan Janetsky, Chicago Tribune, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Military force has imposed enormous costs on both Hamas and Iran, devastating their military facilities and killing their commanders.
    — NADIA SCHADLOW, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Winds blowing east to west along the equator push water in the Pacific Ocean west toward Asia, Jacox said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Andersen sees energy storage, which would allow for continual energy supply even when the wind isn’t blowing, as the wind sector’s next big opportunity.
    — Sam Birchall, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026
Verb
  • Here’s how the shift happened, what the ingredient actually does below the neck and how to fold it into a routine without wrecking your skin barrier.
    — Hanna Wickes, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 15 Sep. 2026
  • The general public learned of the demolition plan only when the wrecking equipment began work nearly three months later.
    — Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • If civilian use of wireless technologies is exploding, military applications are also rising, and everything from drones to armored vehicles is now part of the larger set of attack units.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Viard watched firsthand as fashion ballooned into a global industry, designers becoming celebrities unto themselves and budgets exploding.
    — Olivier Bouchara, Vanity Fair, 30 Sep. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Shattering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shattering. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

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