SHRED (shredded, shredding)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: shredded    , shredding   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does shred mean? 

• SHRED (noun)
  The noun SHRED has 2 senses:

1. a tiny or scarcely detectable amount

2. a small piece of cloth or paper

  Familiarity information: SHRED used as a noun is rare.

• SHRED (verb)
  The verb SHRED has 1 sense:

1. tear into shreds

  Familiarity information: SHRED used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SHRED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tiny or scarcely detectable amount

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

iota; scintilla; shred; smidge; smidgen; smidgeon; smidgin; tittle; whit

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

small indefinite amount; small indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude)

Derivation:

shred (tear into shreds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small piece of cloth or paper

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

rag; shred; tag; tag end; tatter

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

piece of cloth; piece of material (a separate part consisting of fabric)

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

pine-tar rag (baseball equipment consisting of a rag soaked with pine tar; used on the handle of a baseball bat to give a batter a firm grip)

Derivation:

shred (tear into shreds)

• SHRED (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they shred    ... he / she / it shreds   
Past simple: shredded   
Past participle: shredded   
-ing form: shredding   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Tear into shreds

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

rip up; shred; tear up

Hypernyms (to "shred" is one way to...):

bust; rupture; snap; tear (separate or cause to separate abruptly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "shred"):

tease (tear into pieces)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

shred (a small piece of cloth or paper)

shred (a tiny or scarcely detectable amount)

shredder (a device that shreds documents (usually in order to prevent the wrong people from reading them))

 Context examples 

See it shreds out, it thins, it rises, and there lies a castle in green plain, with the sea beneath it, and a great church within a bow-shot.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There goes your last shred of evidence.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sun had dried stray shreds of moss, and he was able to warm himself with hot water.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I am sure you did not, for a duster would have swept away these shreds of varnish.

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

For Heaven’s sake don’t get started on a new problem when your nerves are all in shreds.

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

Only a few shreds of clothes could still be distinguished, but there were the remains of boots upon the bony feet, and it was very clear that the dead man was a European.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From below came the fatal roaring where the wild current went wilder and was rent in shreds and spray by the rocks which thrust through like the teeth of an enormous comb.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The collision ripped the dwarf to shreds, leaving its stars moving on very radial orbits, like needles.

(The Gaia Sausage: the major collision that changed the Milky Way, University of Cambridge)

I thought it might have become shredded in the post office machinery due to the very thin paper of the envelope she had sent me with her address on it.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Researchers think the shredded star was a white dwarf - a hot, roughly Earth-sized stellar remnant marking the final state of stars like our Sun.

(Mysterious Blast Studied with NASA Telescopes, NASA)