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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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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Speak
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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.
She seemed to hold no mistrust toward me and my halting Spanish, no shard of suspicion that I could use to create the usual distance around myself.
From Slate • Jan. 15, 2026
"The light was stunning and I captured the shot just as a shard of light from the winter sun broke through the cloud," she said.
From BBC • Feb. 4, 2024
At least this shard of Iceland-as-Alaska works with its intrinsic enchantment to encourage our sense of belief more than denial.
From Salon • Jan. 14, 2024
So no matter what kind of shard she portrays herself as Sam to be, under it, you feel that vulnerability of Chlöe, and I think that audiences will respond to it.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2023
A shard of mirror winking from Finn’s back pocket.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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.
