(shatters, shattering, shattered)
1.
If something shatters or is shattered, it breaks into a lot of small pieces.
...safety glass that won't shatter if it's broken...
The car shattered into a thousand burning pieces in a 200mph crash...
One bullet shattered his skull.
VERB: V, V into n, V n
• shattering
...the shattering of glass.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
If something shatters your dreams, hopes, or beliefs, it completely destroys them.
A failure would shatter the hopes of many people...
Something like that really shatters your confidence.
VERB: V n, V n
3.
If someone is shattered by an event, it shocks and upsets them very much.
He had been shattered by his son's death.
...the tragedy which had shattered his life.
VERB: be V-ed, V n
4.