SHARD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shard mean? 

• SHARD (noun)
  The noun SHARD has 1 sense:

1. a broken piece of a brittle artifact

  Familiarity information: SHARD used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A broken piece of a brittle artifact

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fragment; shard; sherd

Hypernyms ("shard" is a kind of...):

piece (a separate part of a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "shard"):

potsherd (a shard of pottery)

 Context examples 

The three-day observations reveal that the comet shards brighten and dim as icy patches on their surfaces rotate into and out of sunlight.

(Hubble Takes Close-up Look at Disintegrating Comet, NASA)

Carefully Holmes held each separate shard to the light, but in no way did it differ from any other shattered piece of plaster.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I may have commented upon my friend’s power of mental detachment, but never have I wondered at it more than upon that spring morning in Cornwall when for two hours he discoursed upon celts, arrowheads, and shards, as lightly as if no sinister mystery were waiting for his solution.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It lay scattered, in splintered shards, upon the grass.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)