# shatter

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈʃæt.ə(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #21,933

## Definitions
1. To violently break something into pieces.
2. To destroy or disable something.
3. To smash, or break into tiny pieces.
4. To dispirit or emotionally defeat.
5. Of seeds: to disperse (become dispersed) upon ripening.
6. To scatter about.
7. To fall sometimes connoting hard, as if to smash something, other times light and dispersed.

## Etymology
From Middle English schateren (“to scatter, dash”), an assibilated form of Middle English scateren ("to scatter"; see scatter), from Old English scaterian, from Proto-Germanic *skat- (“to smash, scatter”), perhaps ultimately imitative.
Cognate with Dutch schateren (“to burst out laughing”), Low German schateren, Albanian shkatërroj (“to destroy, devastate”). Doublet of scatter.

## Easily confused with
- **slater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-slater)
- **skater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-skater)
- **sitter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-sitter)
- **Sutter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-sutter)
- **shaver** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shaver)
- **shelter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shelter)
- **shorter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shorter)
- **shooter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shooter)
- **starter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-starter)
- **smarter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-smarter)
- **shutter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shutter)
- **shifter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shifter)
- **stutter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-stutter)
- **spotter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-spotter)
- **splatter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-splatter)
- **Slattery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-slattery)
- **shattered** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shatter-vs-shattered)
- **shaker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/shaker-vs-shatter)
- **seater** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/seater-vs-shatter)
- **setter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/setter-vs-shatter)

## Common misspellings (9)
`hsatter`, `sahtter`, `shater`, `shatetr`, `shatterr`, `shattre`, `shhatter`, `shtater`, `sshatter`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/shatter