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.

Thrust vs Smash - What's the difference?

thrust | smash | Related terms |

In figuratively terms the difference between thrust and smash

is that thrust is the primary effort; the goal while smash is to ruin completely and suddenly.

In intransitive terms the difference between thrust and smash

is that thrust is to enter by pushing; to squeeze in while smash is to be destroyed by being smashed.

thrust

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (fencing) An attack made by moving the sword parallel to its length and landing with the point.
  • Pierre was a master swordsman, and could parry the thrusts of lesser men with barely a thought.
  • A push, stab, or lunge forward (the act thereof.)
  • The cutpurse tried to knock her satchel from her hands, but she avoided his thrust and yelled, "Thief!"
  • The force generated by propulsion, as in a jet engine.
  • Spacecraft are engineering marvels, designed to resist the thrust of liftoff, as well as the reverse pressure of the void.
  • (figuratively) The primary effort; the goal.
  • Ostensibly, the class was about public health in general, but the main thrust was really sex education.

    Synonyms

    * (push, stab, or lunge forward ): break, dart, grab * (force generated by propulsion ): lift, push * (primary effort or goal ): focus, gist, point

    Verb

  • (lb) To make advance with .
  • :
  • (lb) To something upon someone.
  • :
  • (lb) To push out or extend rapidly or powerfully.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, withon one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.
  • (lb) To push or drive with force; to shove.
  • :
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:Into a dungeon thrust , to work with slaves.
  • (lb) To enter by pushing; to squeeze in.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:And thrust between my father and the god.
  • To stab; to pierce; usually with through .
  • Synonyms

    * (advance with force) attack, charge, rush * (force upon someone) compel, charge, force * (push out or extend rapidly and powerfully) dart, reach, stab

    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

    Anagrams

    * English ergative verbs ----