From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtatterstat‧ters /ˈtætəz $ -ərz/ noun [plural] 1 → in tatters2 DCTEARclothing that is old and torn SYN rags
Examples from the Corpus
tatters• Banners burnt, and tatters twisted, in every way.• Her hands are claws she keeps concealed within her rags and tatters.• The articles of Arthur Ronald Constance, the famed ring columnist, lined the walls in ancient, browned, curling tatters.• To see a starvIng man eating lobster salad and drinking Rhine wine, barefooted and in tatters, was curious.• On May 4 that year a demoralised Labour Party lost office, its credibility in tatters.• But that lay in tatters last night after the latest revelations.• He said he was now a broken and sorry man whose life is virtually in tatters.• He sat shame-faced as a court heard that his career was in tatters because of the stag night brawl.Origin tatters (1400-1500) From a Scandinavian language 