in tatters
"in-tatters" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“in tatters” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Badly torn in many places; in shreds.
Corpus desk
Index EN-in-tatters · in tatters · English
in tatters · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "I" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | in tatters |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “in tatters” in English
Rare enough to double-check
in tatters is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for in tatters, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is in tatters, spelled I-N- -T-A-T-T-E-R-S.
Definition
- 1Badly torn in many places; in shreds.
- 2Ruined, destroyed, wrecked.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how in tatters appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Its financial plans for 2020-24, published last December, lie in tatters. TfL Chief Financial Officer Simon Kilonback told his board in June: "It is unlikely, even with significant external support, that we will return to any similar plan or levels of investment in the medium term."
Most polls give the left, divided between Socialists, ecologists and far-left parties, less than 30 percent of the vote in a France drifting rightward. The once-proud “gauche” is in tatters.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.