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Shatter vs Shutter - What's the difference?

shatter | shutter |

In transitive terms the difference between shatter and shutter

is that shatter is to dispirit or emotionally defeat while shutter is to close shutters covering.

shatter

Verb

(en verb)
  • to violently break something into pieces.
  • 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 destroy or disable something.
  • to smash, or break into tiny pieces.
  • to dispirit or emotionally defeat
  • to be shattered''' in intellect; to have '''shattered''' hopes, or a '''shattered constitution
  • * 1984 Martyn Burke, The commissar's report, p36
  • Your death will shatter him. Which is what I want. Actually, I would prefer to kill him.
  • * 1992 Rose Gradym "Elvis Cures Teen's Brain Cancer!" Weekly World News , Vol. 13, No. 38 (23 June, 1992), p41
  • A CAT scan revealed she had an inoperable brain tumor. The news shattered Michele's mother.
  • * 2006 A. W. Maldonado, Luis Muñoz Marín: Puerto Rico's democratic revolution, p163
  • The marriage, of course, was long broken but Munoz knew that asking her for a divorce would shatter her.
  • * Norris
  • a man of a loose, volatile, and shattered humour
  • (obsolete) To scatter about.
  • * Milton
  • Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A fragment of anything shattered.
  • to break a glass into shatters
    (Jonathan Swift)

    shutter

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who shuts or closes something.
  • * (Max Beerbohm)
  • it would be very difficult to pack this drawing in such a way that it would be sure not to be injured by the frantic fingers of the openers and shutters .
  • (usually, in the plural) Protective panels, usually wooden, placed over windows to block out the light.
  • (photography) The part of a camera, normally closed, that opens for a controlled period of time to let light in during taking a picture.
  • Derived terms

    * roller shutter * shutter priority * shutter speed

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To close shutters covering.
  • Shutter the windows, there's a storm coming!
  • To close up (a building or an operation) for a prolonged period of inoccupancy.
  • It took all day to shutter the cabin now that the season has ended.
    The US is seeking to get Iran to shutter its nuclear weapons program.

    Anagrams

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