shred

UK/ʃɹɛd/US/ʃɹɛd/

verbB1+4 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #4,888 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: shredded, shredding, shreds

To shred something is to cut or tear it into long thin strips. Shredded lettuce falling into a taco; a block of cheese going down the grater; a machine turning a stack of old bank statements into ribbons.

The noun is one of those strips, but you meet it far more in the negative: not a shred of evidence, not a shred of doubt, not a shred of dignity left. It means not the smallest scrap. Clothes get torn to shreds, and so does an argument in the wrong hands. The office machine is a shredder, and the past form is shredded, so shredded documents and shredded carrots share one verb. Guitarists use shred for playing very fast, which has nothing to do with cutting anything.

Definitions of shred

1verbshredTo cut or tear something into long thin strips.B1+
“Shred the cabbage finely and pour the dressing over it.”
- Said"Shred the cabbage finely for me; nobody wants a mouthful of leaf."
- WrittenHe shredded the chicken with two forks while it was still too hot to touch.
- UsedShred the lettuce just before serving so it stays crisp.
- ContrastShred, not slice. A slice is one clean piece; shreds are many thin strips, torn or cut. slice →
- Not thisChopping an onion into squares is not shredding. Shred means long and thin.
- Exchange"Chopped or shredded?""Shredded. Like for a coleslaw."
- SimplyShred the carrot. It is good in salad.
Patternshred + noun (cabbage, cheese, chicken) · shredded + noun · shred sth finely · a shredder
2verbdestroyTo destroy documents by cutting them into strips.B1
“The office shreds anything with a name on it.”
3nounsliverA thin strip torn or cut off something.B2
“Shreds of wallpaper hung off the damp wall.”
synonyms: strip, sliver
4nounsmallestThe smallest possible amount of something — used after a negative.B2
“There is not a shred of proof that he was ever there.”

Remember it

SHRED → what the office SHREDder does to letters

Push a letter into the office machine and it comes out in long thin strips: shredded. A knife can do the same to a whole cheese.

Phrases it lives in

tear something to shreds — destroy it completely, or attack an argument until nothing of it is left
not a shred of — not the smallest amount of — evidence, doubt, decency

Where it comes from

Shred is old. Late Old English sċrēad meant a piece cut off, a paring, from Proto-Germanic *skraudō and the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-, to cut off. Follow that root sideways and you reach escrow, a doublet of shred — two very different words from one act of cutting.

Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- — to cut off
Proto-Germanic
*skraudō — a piece, shred; a crack; a cut
Old English
sċrēad
Middle English
shrede
English, today
shred

Built from

shred · Middle English — fragment, piece, scrap; piece cut off from something; strip of material; ornamental strip hanging from the edge of a garment; thread; band or thread woven in a garment; element, streak; plant (?)
sċrēade · Old English — piece cut off from something; a paring; a shred

From Middle English shrede, shred (“fragment, piece, scrap; piece cut off from something; strip of material; ornamental strip hanging from the edge of a garment; thread; band or thread woven in a garment; element, streak; plant (?)”)schreade, schrede, screde, shrade, shredde, (Kent) screade, from Late Old English sċrēad, sċrēade (“piece cut off from something; a paring; a shred”), from Proto-Germanic skraudō (“a piece, shred; a crack; a cut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European (s)ker- (“to cut off”). a doublet of escrow.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in In the Kitchen, Office & Admin, Cutting & Breaking

Practise this word

Definitions of shred

1verbshredTo cut or tear something into long thin strips.B1+

“Shred the cabbage finely and pour the dressing over it.”

Said"Shred the cabbage finely for me; nobody wants a mouthful of leaf."
WrittenHe shredded the chicken with two forks while it was still too hot to touch.
UsedShred the lettuce just before serving so it stays crisp.
ContrastShred, not slice. A slice is one clean piece; shreds are many thin strips, torn or cut. slice →
Not thisChopping an onion into squares is not shredding. Shred means long and thin.
Exchange"Chopped or shredded?""Shredded. Like for a coleslaw."
SimplyShred the carrot. It is good in salad.

Patternshred + noun (cabbage, cheese, chicken) · shredded + noun · shred sth finely · a shredder

2verbdestroyTo destroy documents by cutting them into strips.B1

“The office shreds anything with a name on it.”

3nounsliverA thin strip torn or cut off something.B2

“Shreds of wallpaper hung off the damp wall.”

synonyms: strip, sliver

4nounsmallestThe smallest possible amount of something — used after a negative.B2

“There is not a shred of proof that he was ever there.”