shard
Americannoun
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a fragment, especially of broken earthenware.
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Zoology.
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a scale.
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a shell, as of an egg or snail.
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Entomology. an elytron of a beetle.
noun
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a broken piece or fragment of a brittle substance, esp of pottery
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zoology a tough sheath, scale, or shell, esp the elytra of a beetle
Etymology
Origin of shard
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English sceard; cognate with Low German, Dutch schaard; akin to shear
Explanation
If you break a mirror, the thin sharp pieces you want to avoid are shards. A shard is simply a broken piece of metal, glass, stone, or pottery with sharp edges. Don't confuse shard with shred, meaning to cut into strips, or chard, a leafy green vegetable. You could use a shard of metal to shred chard into salad, but be careful that you don't cut your hands to shreds!
Vocabulary lists containing shard
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Established in 2005, it owns the Empire State Building and London's Shard, the Canary Wharf district and high-end department store Harrods.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
They're in touch on Christmas Day in 2010 and Andrew sent Epstein one of those homemade family messages at Christmas, with pictures of his daughters, and a photo of himself abseiling on the Shard.
From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026
British media reported he was arrested and jailed for climbing the Shard building in London in 2019.
From Reuters • Jun. 12, 2023
The title refers to Gorian Shard, the king who Din angered in the season premiere.
From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2023
Ama told me that being a Shard means I have some of Asase’s power—the only issue is that I can’t quite control it.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
