shred

American  

[shred] / ʃrɛd /

noun

1. a piece cut or torn off, especially in a narrow strip.

2. a bit; scrap.

   We haven't got a shred of evidence.

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verb (used with object)

shredded, shred, shredding

1. to cut or tear into small pieces, especially small strips; reduce to shreds.

   I shred my credit card statement every month.

verb (used without object)

shredded, shred, shredding

1. to be cut up, torn, etc..

   The blouse had shredded in the wash.

2. 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.

3. 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.

shred British  

/ ʃrɛd /

noun

1. a long narrow strip or fragment torn or cut off

2. a very small piece or amount; scrap

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verb

1. (tr) to tear or cut into shreds

Other Word Forms

• shredder noun
• shredless adjective
• shredlike adjective
• unshredded adjective

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; screed

Example Sentences

Extra shredded carrots were saved for bread or pickled for a salad.

From Salon

Fifty grams of cheese is roughly equal to two slices of cheddar or about half a cup of shredded cheese and is approximately 1.8 ounces.

From Science Daily

Not only that, but these observations also tell us more about the nature of TDEs -- when a star is shredded by the immense gravitational forces exerted by a black hole.

From Science Daily

The chicken, shredded tender, mingles with spaghetti broken into thirds, while cream-of-mushroom soup pulls everything into a glossy, velvety tangle.

From Salon

A hidden consequence of disasters, distinct from the traumas afflicting each person, was a shredding of “social life that damages the bonds attaching people together and impairs a prevailing sense of communality,” he wrote.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• fragment
• iota
• modicum
• ounce
• sliver
• smidgen
• snippet
• speck
• whit