- [usually plural] a small thin piece that has been torn or cut from something synonym scrap
- shreds of paper
- His jacket had been torn to shreds by the barbed wire.
- Cut the orange peel into thin shreds.
Extra Examples- Just a few shreds of cloth were left.
- the tattered shreds of their flag
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fine
- thin
- tattered
- …
- in shreds
- into shreds
- shred of
- …
- cut, rip, tear, etc. something to shreds
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- [usually singular] shred of something (used especially in negative sentences) a very small amount of something
- There is not a shred of evidence to support his claim.
- Couldn’t he leave her some shred of dignity?
Extra Examples- She was hanging on to the last remaining shreds of her reputation.
- There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that we will win.
- This is an old story without a shred of truth to it.
- With her had gone every shred of hope he had for the future.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- every
- last
- remaining
- …
- shred of
- without a shred of something
Word Originlate Old English scrēad ‘piece cut off’, scrēadian ‘trim, prune’, of West Germanic origin; related to shroud.
Idioms
See shred in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryin shreds
- very badly damaged synonym in tatters
- The country's economy is in shreds.
- (figurative) Her nerves were in shreds.
- torn in many places
- The document was in shreds on the floor.
pick/pull/tear somebody/something to pieces/shreds
- (informal) to criticize somebody, or their work or ideas, very severely
- Their case was torn to shreds by the defence lawyer.
Check pronunciation:
shred