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View synonyms for smash

smash

[ smash ]

verb (used with object)

  1. to break to pieces with violence and often with a crashing sound, as by striking, letting fall, or dashing against something; shatter:

    He smashed the vase against the wall.

  2. to defeat, disappoint, or disillusion utterly.
  3. to hit or strike (someone or something) with force.
  4. to overthrow or destroy something considered as harmful:

    They smashed the drug racket.

  5. to ruin financially:

    The depression smashed him.

    Synonyms: bankrupt

  6. Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis. to hit (a ball or shuttlecock) overhead or overhand with a hard downward motion, causing the shot to move very swiftly and to strike the ground or table usually at a sharp angle.


verb (used without object)

  1. to break to pieces from a violent blow or collision.
  2. to dash with a shattering or crushing force or with great violence; crash (usually followed by against, into, through, etc.).
  3. to become financially ruined or bankrupt (often followed by up ).
  4. to flatten and compress the signatures of a book in a press before binding.

noun

  1. the act or an instance of smashing or shattering.

    Synonyms: crash

  2. the sound of such a smash.
  3. a blow, hit, or slap.
  4. a destructive collision, as between automobiles.
  5. a smashed or shattered condition.
  6. a process or state of collapse, ruin, or destruction:

    the total smash that another war would surely bring.

  7. financial failure or ruin.
  8. Informal. smash hit.
  9. a drink made of brandy, or other liquor, with sugar, water, mint, and ice.
  10. Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis.
    1. an overhead or overhand stroke in which the ball or shuttlecock is hit with a hard, downward motion causing it to move very swiftly and to strike the ground or table usually at a sharp angle.
    2. a ball hit with such a stroke.

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or constituting a great success:

    That composer has written many smash tunes.

smash

/ smæʃ /

verb

  1. to break into pieces violently and usually noisily
  2. whenintr, foll by against, through, into, etc to throw or crash (against) vigorously, causing shattering

    it smashed against the wall

    he smashed the equipment

  3. tr to hit forcefully and suddenly
  4. tr tennis squash badminton to hit (the ball) fast and powerfully, esp with an overhead stroke
  5. tr to defeat or wreck (persons, theories, etc)
  6. tr to make bankrupt
  7. intr to collide violently; crash
  8. introften foll byup to go bankrupt
  9. smash someone's face in informal.
    smash someone's face in to beat someone severely


noun

  1. an act, instance, or sound of smashing or the state of being smashed
  2. a violent collision, esp of vehicles
  3. a total failure or collapse, as of a business
  4. tennis squash badminton a fast and powerful overhead stroke
  5. informal.
    1. something having popular success
    2. ( in combination )

      smash-hit

  6. slang.
    loose change; coins

adverb

  1. with a smash

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Derived Forms

  • ˈsmashable, adjective

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Other Words From

  • smasha·ble adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of smash1

1690–1700; perhaps blend of smack 2 and mash 1

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Word History and Origins

Origin of smash1

C18: probably from sm ( ack ² + m ) ash

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Synonym Study

See break.

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Example Sentences

Congratulations to Jane Fraser on smashing Wall Street’s glass ceiling.

From Fortune

Although Apple Watch is not, perhaps, a smash hit on the scale of the iPhone or the iPod, it’s by far the best-selling smartwatch in the world.

From Fortune

When the series debuted in the UK in 2011 and became a smash hit, it paved the way for it to become an international sensation and therefore create many copycats.

From Vox

When you find your parked car, you notice the smashed taillight.

While conventional nuclear power plants generate energy by splitting atoms, nuclear fusion involves smashing two atoms together.

Sid Vicious is stomping all over Steve Jones, about to smash in his guitar (again).

At the end of the session, when we listened back to all we had laid down that day, I was sure I had a smash hit.

Think sexual liberation, 1970s groups like the Gay Liberation Front, and slogans like “Smash the church/Smash the state.”

Every aspiring DJ could smash and grab himself a mixer and some turntables.

Then there were those songs that were either too half-baked or half-hearted to even fool us into turning them into smash hits.

The moment the bait was touched, down would come the heavy timber—smash—on the tiger's head.

“Confound it, no;” rejoined Mr. Simmery, stopping for an instant to smash a fly with the ruler.

Towne made a fool of a girl I knowshe is married, though; it didnt smash her affections very deep; married rich, too.

Efter hearin' him, it fair knocked the stories on the heid aboot him bein' oot to smash the hame, an' religion an' sic like.

I'm sorry, drandma, 'cause I spilt the cream, and I'm awfil glad I didn't smash the bowl.

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smarty-pantssmash-and-grab