Meaning & use

shattered

adjective·Everyday

Broken suddenly and violently into many small pieces, or, informally, extremely upset or exhausted.

See it in a sentence

The vase lay shattered on the floor after the cat knocked it off the shelf.

After the twelve-hour shift, she was completely shattered and went straight to bed.

A note on using this word

In British informal English, shattered commonly means extremely tired, a sense that is less common in American English.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

intactwhole

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