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Smash vs Swash - What's the difference?

smash | swash |

In lang=en terms the difference between smash and swash

is that smash is to be destroyed by being smashed while swash is to fall violently or noisily.

As nouns the difference between smash and swash

is that smash is the sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together while swash is the water that washes up on shore after an incoming wave has broken.

As verbs the difference between smash and swash

is that smash is to break (something brittle) violently while swash is to swagger; to bluster and brag.

As an adjective swash is

soft, like overripe fruit; swashy; squashy.

smash

English

Noun

(smashes)
  • The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.
    • I could hear the screech of the brakes, then the horrible smash of cars colliding.
  • (British, colloquial) A traffic accident.
    • The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash .
  • (colloquial, entertainment) Something very successful.
    • This new show of mine is sure to be a smash .
  • * 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]
    • Soundcheck for the band, today, takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It is late afternoon and while the arena's 17,000 outdoor seats are still empty the four members of Mumford & Sons – prospering British folk band, in the middle of a long tour of Australia, the US and the UK, their newly released album Babel a smash on all fronts – wander to centre stage.
  • (tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.
    • A smash may not be as pretty as a good half volley, but it can still win points.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=July 3 , author=Piers Newbury , title=Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A Nadal forehand into the net gave Djokovic the set and the Spaniard appeared rattled, firing a smash over the baseline in a rare moment of promise at 30-30 at the start of the third.}}
  • (colloquial, archaic) bankruptcy

    • Synonyms

    * (sound of a violent impact ): crash * (colloquial: traffic accident ): crash * (colloquial: something very successful ): smash hit

    Verb

    (es)
  • To break (something brittle) violently.
  • * 1895 , , (The Time Machine) , Chapter X
    • Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.
  • To hit extremely hard.
  • (figuratively) To ruin completely and suddenly.
  • (figuratively) To defeat overwhelmingly.
  • (US) To deform through continuous pressure.
  • To be destroyed by being smashed.
  • (transitive, slang, vulgar, of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.

    • Synonyms

    * (break violently ): dash, shatter * (hit extremely hard ): pound, thump, wallop * (ruin completely and suddenly ): dash * (defeat overwhelmingly ): slaughter, trounce * (be destroyed by being smashed ): shatter

    Related terms

    * go to smash * smash and grab * smash hit * smash into * smash up * smashed * smashing

    Anagrams

    * English ergative verbs ----

    swash

    English

    Noun

  • The water that washes up on shore after an incoming wave has broken
  • (typography) a long, protruding ornamental line or pen stroke found in some typefaces and styles of calligraphy.
  • A narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between a sand bank and the shore, or a bar over which the sea washes.
  • (obsolete) Liquid filth; wash; hog mash.
  • (obsolete) A blustering noise.
  • (obsolete) swaggering behaviour.
  • (obsolete) A swaggering fellow; a swasher.
  • (architecture) An oval figure, whose mouldings are oblique to the axis of the work.
    • (Moxon)
    (Webster 1913)

    Verb

    (es)
  • To swagger; to bluster and brag.
  • To dash or flow noisily; to splash.
  • *1851 ,
    • How the sea rolls swashing ‘gainst the side! Stand by for reefing, hearties!
  • To fall violently or noisily.
    • (Holinshed)

    See also

    * swashbuckler * swash letter

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Soft, like overripe fruit; swashy; squashy.
    • (Pegge)

    Anagrams

    *