smithereens
Americanplural noun
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of smithereens
1820–30; dial. smithers (< ?) + Hiberno-English -een diminutive suffix (< Irish -ín )
Explanation
The noun smithereens is good for describing the tiny pieces of something, especially when it's been smashed into small bits. You're most likely to come across the word smithereens when someone's describing an explosion: "It was such an exciting movie — the spies kept blowing cars to smithereens!" You could also say that a neighborhood vandal smashed both your mailbox and your jack-'o-lantern to smithereens. The origin of the word is thought to be the Irish smidirín, or "fragment."
Vocabulary lists containing smithereens
St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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A Long Way from Chicago
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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.
It’s a theory clearly waiting to be blown to smithereens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Many of those on Air Force One, including the traveling press, didn’t appreciate discovering that they had been put on a decoy plane that government officials thought Iran might blow to smithereens.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
It’s not that my expectations for Donner’s first “Superman” were surpassed all those years ago; it’s that they were shattered to smithereens.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2025
Well, the player has certainly smashed that particular query into smithereens.
From BBC ● May 20, 2024
I kept glancing over at Father, wondering, Am I the only one getting shocked to smithereens here?
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
