Shard vs Shatter - What's the difference?
shard | shatter |
A piece of broken glass or pottery, especially one found in an archaeological dig.
A piece of material, especially rock and similar materials, reminding of a broken piece of glass or pottery.
* 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
A tough scale, sheath, or shell; especially an elytron of a beetle.
(online role-playing) An instance of an MMORPG that is one of several independent and structurally identical virtual worlds, none of which has so many players as to exhaust a system's resources.
* 1997 , Ultima Online''. The term "shard" is related to the backstory of the game, in which the Gem of Immortality is shattered by the Stranger, the protagonist of ''Ultima I .
To fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion.
To break (something) into shards.
(online role-playing) To divide (an MMORPG) into several , or to establish a shard of one.
The plant chard.
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.
In intransitive terms the difference between shard and shatter
is that shard is to fall apart into shards, usually as the result of impact or explosion while shatter is to smash, or break into tiny pieces.In transitive terms the difference between shard and shatter
is that shard is to break (something) into shards while shatter is to dispirit or emotionally defeat.shard
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl) sceard . Akin to Dutch ).Alternative forms
* sherdNoun
(en noun)- Inside its exhibit hall, behind panes of glass, in a white-lit lab, a team of restorers works on an ancient Byzantine floor: 44 square yards of stone shards rescued from Lot’s Cave Monastery.
- "The planet was still bound to the jewel's magic, even as it lay shattered upon the floor of Mondain's castle. For,(SIC) within each shattered remnant of the jewel, dwelled a perfect likeness of Sosaria. Thus is the world in which you are born, live, and die. Brittania(SIC), that was once Sosaria, now exists as a thousand worlds, each with its own peoples, history and destiny. This Brittania(SIC) is but one of many in the multiverse that is... ...ULTIMA ONLINE." - Intro cinematic to the game, written by Michael Morlan [http://michael-morlan.net/pages/production/prod_uo.htm]
Derived terms
* potsherdSynonyms
* potsherd * splinter (of glass)Verb
(en verb)References
* (pottery) Shard'', in the ''Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.Etymology 2
Noun
(-)- (Dryden)
Anagrams
*shatter
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)
