shred
Americannoun
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shreds
plural
-
a piece cut or torn off, especially in a narrow strip.
-
a bit; scrap.
We haven't got a shred of evidence.
verb (used with object)
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shreds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shredded,
past participle, past
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shred,
past participle
-
shredding
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
shreds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
shredded,
past participle, past
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shred,
past participle
-
shredding
present participle
-
to be cut up, torn, etc..
The blouse had shredded in the wash.
-
Slang. to snowboard, skateboard, surf, or ski in a highly skilled or showily spectacular manner.
I bought a new action camera that I can mount to my helmet—stay tuned for rad videos of me shredding when I hit the slopes next weekend.
-
Slang. to play guitar very quickly with specific picking techniques, as during an electric guitar solo.
Fans in the mosh pit go wild when Eddie shreds on lead guitar.
noun
-
a long narrow strip or fragment torn or cut off
-
a very small piece or amount; scrap
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
shredsimple
-
shredssimple
-
have shredperfect
-
have shreddedperfect
-
has shredperfect
-
has shreddedperfect
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am shreddingprogressive
-
are shreddingprogressive
-
is shreddingprogressive
-
have been shreddingperfect progressive
-
has been shreddingperfect progressive
Past
-
shreddedsimple
-
had shredperfect
-
had shreddedperfect
-
was shreddingprogressive
-
were shreddingprogressive
-
had been shreddingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of shred
First recorded before 1000; Middle English noun shrede, schrede, shredd, Old English scrēade, scrēad “a cutting, a scrap”; cognate with Old Norse skrjōthr “worn-out book,” German Schrot “chips”; Middle English verb schreden “to chop, cut up,” Old English scrēadian “to pare, trim, prune (trees)”; akin to shroud; cf. screed
Vocabulary lists containing shred
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.
See Examples For:
Once the chicken is cooked, I pull it out to shred later, while the vegetables underneath — softened in chicken fat, lemon and all those browned juices — become the base of the soup.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2026
"If they have even a shred of honour, the first thing they should do would be to stop the negotiations," he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
But Anthony Sanft, Davis’ defense lawyer, argued that the prosecution had no forensics, no eyewitness, and not a single shred of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026
From the opening minute, Belgium absolutely dominated the Americans and squelched every shred of optimism the U.S. had generated among fans about their promising start to the tournament.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
In another moment she would lose every shred of commonsense and pride and fling herself into the water after the rowboat and plead with them not to leave her behind.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
I’ll occasionally pull out the bag to snack on a few shreds of meat in between meals.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The departure of Ohtani for zero prospects, zero young stars, nobody … seriously damaged the remaining shreds of trust between their many loyal fans and the team.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
I swirled a half-cup around the crust and dolloped it with fat shreds of fresh mozzarella and torn basil leaves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
Everybody’s scrambling to find any facts about the guy, finding out where he studied, what he said, and not finding out very much at all, really grasping at small shreds of detail.
From Slate ● Mar. 11, 2026
I found the mess to consist of indifferent potatoes and strange shreds of rusty meat, mixed and cooked together.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
About 2 cups finely shredded zucchini, loosely packed and squeezed dry with a paper towel.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
The price for a failed attempt at levity is steep when executives are routinely shredded on social media and complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are at the highest level in nearly a decade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
In July, FDA traceback and epidemiological evidence linked shredded iceberg lettuce produced by Taylor Farms to a major Cyclospora outbreak.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
We would loiter, mostly, and eat the shredded beef nachos that I still think about to this day while the plastic of our high-top Converse grilled on the scalding asphalt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
The next morning, I put on Mrs. Diamants old coat, the one she’d lent me when mine got shredded, and peeked out the door of the echoing apartment.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
Even Rodrigo’s backing band, full of absolutely shredding women instrumentalists, played beside her on equal footing for exquisitely tasteful, post-punky revisions of songs across her three albums.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Getting rid of stuff is something we do nearly every week, through donating, trashing and shredding.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026
Commercial processing can magnify certain food-safety risks, including chopping and shredding in large facilities where a single contaminated leaf can mix with other produce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Others suggest shredding and freezing parts of the chicken for stretch meals.
From Salon ● May 30, 2026
Except the desire shredding me up inside was so painful, it could only be a part of my heart and soul.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
