What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Shattered vs Knackered - What's the difference?

shattered | knackered |

As verbs the difference between shattered and knackered

is that shattered is past tense of shatter while knackered is past tense of knacker.

As adjectives the difference between shattered and knackered

is that shattered is physically broken into pieces while knackered is tired or exhausted.

shattered

English

Verb

(head)
  • (shatter)

    • Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • physically broken into pieces
  • *{{quote-book, year=1907, author=
    • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=30 citation , passage=It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.}}
  • emotionally defeated or dispirited
  • * 2000 Lionel Robbins, A history of economic thought: the LSE lectures, Princeton University Press, p221
    • Well, she died after seven years of marriage, and Mill thought that he was shattered', and ' shattered no doubt he was, in the sense of this absolutely irreparable emotional loss.
  • * 2000 Nellie McHenry, Forbidden Dreams of Love, chapter 26
    • She refused to see him for two days. He was shattered . He sent his apologies.
  • * 2010 Mary Alice Beasley, Shattered Lens: A Tale of Domestic Violence and Redemption Through Love, AuthorHouse, p261
    • Yes, he had gotten his revenge for my rejection. I was shattered but remained silent.

    knackered

    English

    Etymology 1

    From the verb (knacker).

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (UK, Irish, Australia, New Zealand, slang) tired or exhausted.
    • I can't go out tonight — I'm knackered .
  • * 2002 , Robert Edenborough, Effective Interviewing: A Handbook of Skills and Techniques , pages 97-98
    • I've got this job in a warehouse just now and it finishes quite early but I'm dead knackered at the end of the day so I don't know about going out and like studying every night.
  • * 2003 , Hugh Dauncey, Geoff Hare (editors), The Tour de France, 1903-2003: A Century of Sporting Structures, Meanings and Values , Frank Cass Publishers, London, 2005, page 225,
    • Then, it all just gets worse and worse, you don?t sleep so much, so you don?t recover as well from the day?s racing, so you go into your reserves, you get more knackered , so you sleep less... It?s simply a vicious circle.
  • * 2009 , Grace Maxwell, Falling & Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins , page 84,
    • So my joy at hearing his voice quickly turns to a paroxysm of anxiety as he manages by exhausted gesture and sound to let us know how knackered he feels, how desperate to get horizontal, almost from the first moment he lands in the chair.
    Usage notes
    * Rarely used in North America, where the usage is less well-known.
    Synonyms
    * cream crackered

    Verb

    (head)
  • (knacker)

    • Etymology 2

    From "ready for the (term, knacker's yard)" or "fit to be knackered", meaning "worn-out livestock, fit to be slaughtered and rendered".

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (UK, Irish, South Africa, colloquial) Broken, inoperative.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=2003 , author=Simon Murphy , title=The Murders of Mutchrose Village , page=28 , passage=In the end though he had to admit that the car was knackered ... }}
  • * 2009 , John Newton, Vance Miller - Kitchen Gangster? , page 82
    • We take an old knackered machine out to China and say, 'Copy that, brand new,' and they do.
    Synonyms
    * broken, worn-out

    Related terms

    * knacker * knacker's yard