From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishshattershat‧ter /ˈʃætə $ -ər/ ●●○ verb 1 [intransitive, transitive]BREAK to break suddenly into very small pieces, or to make something break in this wayshatter into The plate hit the floor, and shattered into tiny bits. The explosion shattered the building.► see thesaurus at break2 [transitive] to completely destroy or ruin something such as someone’s beliefs or life A tragic accident shattered her dreams of Olympic glory. A few weeks in a tiny damp room soon shattered his illusions about university life. people whose lives have been shattered by war3 → shatter the silence/peaceCOLLOCATIONS – Meaning 2: to completely destroy or ruin something such as someone’s beliefs or lifenounsshatter somebody’s hopesTheir hopes had been shattered by the outbreak of war.shatter somebody’s confidencePublic confidence has been shattered.shatter a dream (=make it impossible for someone to achieve or get something they want)He spoke yesterday about the injury which shattered his Olympic dream.shatter somebody’s illusions (=make someone realise their beliefs are wrong)I hate to be the one to shatter your illusions, but you’re wrong.shatter an image (=make people realise the idea they have about something is wrong)The book shattered the image of the contented American housewife.shatter a myth (=show that an idea was completely wrong)Economic studies have shattered the myth that population growth is bad for a nation’s economy. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
shatter• Don't try to drive nails into the bricks, they may shatter.• Sadly, that dream may soon be shattered.• The bullet shattered a bone in her left forearm.• Protesters shattered a glass door and tossed red dye around the entrance.• Storefront windows shattered and roofs blew off during the hurricane.• The glass had shattered, but the photograph itself was undamaged.• Our lives were completely shattered by the accident.• That morning it was a matter of blinding, shattering, choking importance.• Trees fell down and windows shattered during the storm.• And Nina, crouched in a chair, weak and pale as though any movement might shatter her thinly held composure.• The nine-year-old boy was hit by a car and shattered his skull on the pavement.• The explosion shattered office windows 500 metres away.• All the windows in the farmhouse had been shattered, the whole scene resembling something from the Blitz.• The force of the crash shattered the windshield.Origin shatter (1300-1400) Probably from an unrecorded Old English sceaterian 