smithereens

UK/smɪðəˈɹiːnz/US/ˌsmɪðəˈɹinz/

nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechleans spokeninformal · an editor’s judgement

Smithereens are the tiny bits something is blown or smashed into. Nothing left worth picking up.

The word only ever appears in the plural and almost always after blown or smashed, so blown to smithereens is very nearly the whole life of the word. It came into English from Irish, from a word meaning small fragments. It is cheerfully exaggerated, which is why it suits a dropped vase as readily as an explosion. Bits and pieces is the calm alternative.

Definitions of smithereens

1nounsmithereensSmall fragments left after something is destroyed.C2
“The vase went to smithereens on the tiles.”

Where it comes from

. The following words, all first attested later than the headword, have been compared:

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 15 of A Man Called Ove.

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