Retort vs Shatter - What's the difference?
retort | shatter |
A sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback.
To say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation.
*{{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=1 To make a remark which reverses an argument upon its originator; to return, as an argument, accusation, censure, or incivility.
* Milton
To bend or curve back.
* Southey
To throw back; to reverberate; to reflect.
* Shakespeare
(chemistry) A flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation.
:* 1893', A large curved ' retort was boiling furiously in the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. — Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Naval Treaty’ (Norton 2005, p.670)
A container in which material is subjected to high temperatures]] as part of an industrial manufacturing process, especially during the smelting and [[forge, forging of metal.
to violently break something into pieces.
to destroy or disable something.
to smash, or break into tiny pieces.
to dispirit or emotionally defeat
* 1984 Martyn Burke, The commissar's report, p36
* 1992 Rose Gradym "Elvis Cures Teen's Brain Cancer!" Weekly World News , Vol. 13, No. 38 (23 June, 1992), p41
* 2006 A. W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's democratic revolution, p163
* Norris
(obsolete) To scatter about.
* Milton
(archaic) A fragment of anything shattered.
As nouns the difference between retort and shatter
is that retort is a sharp or witty reply, or one which turns an argument against its originator; a comeback or retort can be (chemistry) a flask with a rounded base and a long neck that is bent down and tapered, used to heat a liquid for distillation while shatter is (archaic) a fragment of anything shattered.As verbs the difference between retort and shatter
is that retort is to say something sharp or witty in answer to a remark or accusation or retort can be to heat in a retort while shatter is to violently break something into pieces.retort
English
(wikipedia retort)Etymology 1
From (etyl) retortus, from .Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)citation, passage=“It is a pity,” he retorted with aggravating meekness, “that they do not use a little common sense. The case resembles that of Columbus' ?egg, and is every bit as simple. […]”}}
- to retort the charge of vanity
- And with retorted scorn his back he turned.
- a retorted line
- With retorted head, pruned themselves as they floated.
- As when his virtues, shining upon others, / Heat them and they retort that heat again / To the first giver.
Synonyms
* (sharp reply) comeback, rejoinder, back answerEtymology 2
From (etyl) retorte.Noun
(en noun)Anagrams
* English reporting verbsshatter
English
(wikipedia shatter)Verb
(en verb)- The miners used dynamite to shatter rocks.
- a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass
- The old oak tree has been shattered by lightning.
- to be shattered''' in intellect; to have '''shattered''' hopes, or a '''shattered constitution
- Your death will shatter him. Which is what I want. Actually, I would prefer to kill him.
- A CAT scan revealed she had an inoperable brain tumor. The news shattered Michele's mother.
- The marriage, of course, was long broken but Munoz knew that asking her for a divorce would shatter her.
- a man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humour
- Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Noun
(en noun)- to break a glass into shatters
- (Jonathan Swift)