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.
Six, five and four minutes on the clock and Hearts were winning the league, smashing to smithereens that established order; history-makers, epoch definers.
From BBC • May 16, 2026
Meanwhile, Musk has been watching his personal fortune shrink by the day and his reputation be blown to smithereens like one of his failed starship rockets.
From Salon • Apr. 14, 2025
Ferran’s ragged butterfly Blanche looks at first glance as if she might be blown to smithereens with one gust of Stanley’s ferocious lung power.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2025
At this point, Betelgeuse’s core will no longer be able to reap energy from further fusion reactions, leading the star to collapse under its own weight and blow itself to smithereens.
From Scientific American • May 15, 2023
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.
