Meaning & use
shard
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Meanings
nouncountable
A sharp, thin piece broken from something hard, such as glass or pottery.
Grammar: Often plural and used with of: shards of glass.
Patterns
- a shard of something
She swept the shards of the broken mirror into a dustpan.
A shard of pottery was lying in the garden.
The explosion sent shards of glass across the street.
nouncountablefigurative
A small piece of something abstract that remains after it has been broken or destroyed.
Grammar: Figurative use, often plural: shards of hope.
Patterns
- a shard of something
He clung to a shard of hope.
Shards of memory returned to her as she walked through the house.
Only shards of the old friendship were left.
Word forms
| plural | shards |
|---|
Common combinations
- shard of glass
- A shard of glass cut his hand.
- pottery shard
- Archaeologists found a pottery shard at the site.
- razor-sharp shard
- A razor-sharp shard lodged in the tire.
- broken into shards
- The vase was broken into shards.
- shards of ice
- Shards of ice fell from the roof.
Synonyms and how they differ
- fragment
- Fragment is a general word for any broken piece, while shard stresses sharpness.
- splinter
- Splinter usually describes a thin, sharp piece of wood, glass, or bone.
- sliver
- Sliver means a very thin piece, but not always sharp.
- chip
- Chip means a small piece broken from an edge, and is not usually sharp.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: shard or shred? shard or sherd?
shard vs shred
A shred is a long thin strip torn or cut off, such as paper or cloth, whereas a shard is a hard, sharp piece.
shard vs sherd
Sherd is a variant spelling of shard, mostly used in archaeology.
Practice
After the plate fell, she carefully collected the ____ of porcelain.
Choose one answer.
Shards are sharp broken pieces of hard materials like porcelain. Shreds are torn strips of soft materials.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “shard”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.