SHRED | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of shred in English shrednoun uk /ʃred/ us /ʃred/

shred noun (SMALL AMOUNT)

Add to word list Add to word list [ S ] a very small amount of something: a shred of There's still a shred of hope that a peace agreement can be reached.a shred of evidence There isn't a shred of evidence to support her accusation. Words meaning small pieces and amounts

• at a fraction of something
• by a nose idiom
• clipping
• crumb
• dab of something
• fraction
• grain
• hint
• morsel
• mote
• oddments
• ort
• paring
• slice
• spark
• swarf
• swatch
• tad
• thimbleful
• tidbit

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shred noun (CUT)

[ C usually plural ] a very small, thin piece that has been torn from something: Cut the radishes into shreds to garnish the plates.  in shreds very badly torn: My shirt was in shreds when I took it out of the washer. badly damaged: The report has left the CEO's reputation in shreds. See more Words meaning small pieces and amounts

• at a fraction of something
• by a nose idiom
• clipping
• crumb
• dab of something
• fraction
• grain
• hint
• morsel
• mote
• oddments
• ort
• paring
• slice
• spark
• swarf
• swatch
• tad
• thimbleful
• tidbit

See more results »

Idiom

tear/rip someone/something to shreds shredverb uk /ʃred/ us /ʃred/ -dd-

shred verb (TEAR)

[ T ] to cut or tear something roughly into thin strips: Shred the lettuce and arrange it around the edge of the dish. shredded carrot/paper to tear a document into strips, especially in a machine, in order to destroy it: He ordered his secretary to shred important documents when government inspectors started investigating his business affairs. Tearing and breaking into pieces

• apart
• asunder
• bobble
• bobbly
• break into pieces
• chip
• crack
• disintegration
• dismantle
• fall to pieces idiom
• fragment
• fragmentation
• rip
• shearing
• snag
• snap
• splinter
• split
• sunder
• tear something apart phrasal verb

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shred verb (DESTROY)

[ T ] to completely destroy something: Every mistake they make further shreds their reputation. He shredded the state's case in his preliminary ruling last September. The Giants shredded the Ram's defense. Destroying and demolishing

• annihilate
• annihilation
• apocalypse
• autolyse
• autolysis
• bash
• costly
• drive a coach and horses through something idiom
• dynamite
• erosion
• erosional
• erosionally
• ruination
• sabotage
• saboteur
• sack
• sacking
• sacrifice
• sink
• wipe

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shred verb (DEFEAT)

[ T ] UK to defeat someone in a game, competition, election, etc.: Celtic shredded Motherwell in the first match of the season. Everyone thought the Conservatives would be shredded at the polls. Winning and defeating

• air supremacy
• annihilate
• annihilation
• bank
• be gunning for someone idiom
• blowout
• massacre
• medal
• mincemeat
• moral victory
• move/go/close in for the kill idiom
• rinse
• scrape
• stomp on someone/something phrasal verb
• sweep the board idiom
• take someone down phrasal verb
• take someone to the cleaner's idiom
• take something apart phrasal verb
• thrash
• vanquish

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shred verb (CRITICIZE)

[ T ] to strongly criticize a person or something they do, think, or say: Every time he published something, the newspapers shredded him.shred someone to bits My boss shredded me to bits for the mistake. Synonym tear/rip someone/something to shreds Making & accepting apologies

• apologetic
• apologetically
• apologize
• atone for something phrasal verb
• atonement
• beg
• bury
• bygone
• conciliatory
• crawl
• crawl back (to someone) idiom
• forge ahead phrasal verb
• forgive
• pardonably
• penance
• penitently
• repentance
• resolve your differences
• sink your differences idiom
• solatium

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shred verb (PLAY GUITAR)

[ I or T ] to play an electric guitar using sets of notes in a way that produces a sound that is distorted (= strange and sometimes unpleasant): He shreds guitar like no other lead guitarist I've heard. That kid can shred! Playing music

• accompaniment
• accompany
• air guitar
• beat something out phrasal verb
• beatbox
• blow
• hammer
• performable
• pick
• pick someone/something out phrasal verb
• piping
• pitch
• play (something) by ear idiom
• tap
• throw
• transpose
• transposition
• ultra-smooth
• una corda
• unperformable

See more results » (Definition of shred from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

shred | American Dictionary

shredverb [ T ] us /ʃred/ -dd-

shred verb [T] (CUT)

Add to word list Add to word list to cut or tear something into small pieces: Shred some lettuce into the salad bowl. He shredded documents to get rid of them. shrednoun us /ʃred/

shred noun (SMALL AMOUNT)

[ C usually sing ] a very small amount of something: There isn’t a shred of evidence to support her accusation.

shred noun (SMALL PIECE)

[ C usually pl ] a very small thin piece that has been cut or torn from something: My silk blouse was ripped to shreds in the washing machine. (Definition of shred from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

shred | Business English

shredverb [ T ] uk /ʃred/ us -dd- Add to word list Add to word list to cut a document into small pieces so that it cannot be read: Ideally, you should shred all bank statements and utility bills after you have finished with them. (Definition of shred from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of shred

shred The longer the chorus sings of the city's prosperous past, the greater the irony in view of the shreds hanging down the young king's armour. From the Cambridge English Corpus They are effectively shredding the so-called safety net. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Information as to the numbers of documents shredded in a typical day could be provided only at disproportionate cost. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 The whole thread and trend of my speech is now in shreds. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 If we are to address ourselves to economies, the argument is reduced to shreds. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Whole used tyres from 2003 and shredded used tyres from 2006. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Tipping takes place in compartments and the tyres are shredded. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 We have scarcely survived 12 months before the explicit pledge contained in this paragraph has been torn to shreds. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 I worry that the last shreds of independence will be lost. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Back to square one: only worse because now much "aggro" will have been aroused and any shreds of good will have gone. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Our policy, far from being the thing of shreds and patches its detractors would claim, does show a remarkable degree of consistency. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 They know it in their hearts and in whatever shreds of conscience are left to them. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Then, after many months of negotiations and after the scheme has been torn to shreds, altered, and amended, it is eventually launched. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 At least we should not be cut to shreds in the world generally. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 Before we get to that stage, however, we must take account of the concerns of those responsible for dismantling, recycling and shredding vehicles. From the Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 See all examples of shred These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. What is the pronunciation of shred?

Translations of shred

in Chinese (Traditional) 少量, 極少量，微量, 切… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 少量, 极少量，微量, 切… See more in Spanish tira, jirón, cortar en tiras finas… See more in Portuguese tira, picar, ralar… See more in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Czech in Danish in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Korean in Ukrainian in Italian 破片, 断片, ～を細かく切る… See more parça, lime, dilim… See more lambeau [masculine], once [feminine], déchiqueter… See more tira, parrac, tallar a tires… See more flard, verscheuren… See more cár, útržek, (roz)trhat… See more strimmel, skære i strimler, rive i strimler… See more carikan, robekan, cabikan… See more ชิ้นเล็กชิ้นน้อย, ตัดหรือฉีกเป็นชิ้น ๆ… See more miếng nhỏ, cắt, xé thành từng miếng nhỏ… See more strzęp, drzeć lub ciąć (na strzępy ), siekać… See more remsa, strimla, trasa… See more carikan, cebisan, mencarik-carik… See more der Fetzen, zerfetzen… See more strimmel [masculine], fnugg [neuter], skjære i strimler… See more 가는 조각, 잘게 자르다… See more клаптик, шматок, різати… See more brandello, pezzetto, tagliare a pezzetti/a striscioline/a listarelle… See more Need a translator?

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• English   
  • Noun 
    • shred (SMALL AMOUNT)
    • shred (CUT)
    • in shreds
  • Verb 
    • shred (TEAR)
    • shred (DESTROY)
    • shred (DEFEAT)
    • shred (CRITICIZE)
    • shred (PLAY GUITAR)
• American   
  • Verb 
    • shred (CUT)
  • Noun 
    • shred (SMALL AMOUNT)
    • shred (SMALL PIECE)
• Business   Verb
• Examples

• Translations
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