shatter
/ˈʃætɚ/ verb B2- Of brittle solid materials (like glass or ice), to violently break into pieces. · The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks.· a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass
- To destroy, disable.
- To dispirit or emotionally defeat. · to be shattered in intellect· to have shattered hopes
- Of seeds: to disperse (become dispersed) upon ripening.
- To fall sometimes connoting hard, as if to smash something, other times light and dispersed.
He/she/it shatters · Past shattered · Past participle shattered · -ing form shattering
Verb forms
- Base form
- shatter
- He/she/it
- shatters
- Past
- shattered
- Past participle
- shattered
- -ing form
- shattering
From the library
Notwithstanding his shattered nerves, the ringing sensation in his ears, and the madness which turned his brain, Villefort rose as he perceived her.
A long journey may enable our friend to recover not only from his shattered nerves but also from his wounded feelings.
“Now,” continued Villefort, “those to whom the guilt really belongs, by whom the crime was committed, on whose heads the justice of man may probably descend here, and the certain judgment of God hereafter, would rejoice in the opportunity thus afforded of bestowing such a peace-offering as Valentine on the son of him whose life they so ruthlessly destroyed.” Noirtier had succeeded in mastering his emotion more than could have been deemed possible with such an enfeebled and shattered frame.
Still, the presence of Monte Cristo at such an hour, his mysterious, fanciful, and extraordinary entrance into her room through the wall, might well seem impossibilities to her shattered reason.
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