smash
pronunciation
How to pronounce smash in British English:
UK [smæʃ]
How to pronounce smash in American English:
US [smæʃ]
-
- Noun:
- a vigorous blow
- a serious collision (especially of motor vehicles)
- a hard return hitting the tennis ball above your head
- the act of colliding with something
- a conspicuous success
-
- Verb:
- hit hard
- break into pieces, as by striking or knocking over
- reduce to bankruptcy
- hit violently
- humiliate or depress completely
- damage or destroy as if by violence
- hit (a tennis ball) in a powerful overhead stroke
- collide or strike violently and suddenly
- overthrow or destroy (something considered evil or harmful)
- break suddenly into pieces, as from a violent blow
-
- Adverb:
- with a loud crash
Word Origin
- smash (v.)
- 1759, "break to pieces," earlier "kick downstairs" (c. 1700), probably of imitative origin (compare smack (v.), mash (v.), crush (v.)). Meaning "act with crushing force" is from 1813; that of "strike violently" is from 1835. Tennis sense is from 1882. Smash-and-grab (adj.) is first attested 1927.
- smash (n.)
- 1725, "hard blow," from smash (v.). Meaning "broken-up condition" is from 1798; that of "failure, financial collapse" is from 1839. Tennis sense is from 1882. Meaning "great success" is from 1923 ("Variety" headline, Oct. 16, in reference to Broadway productions of "The Fool" and "The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly").
Example
- 1. Photograph by priit vesilind pacific ocean waves smash the boulder-strewn coast of iquique , chile .
- 2. There are two ways to make a box-office smash .
- 3. Large rock in hand , he tried and failed three times to smash through the driver 's window .
- 4. And why somebody has to smash
- 5. As the two galaxies smash together , billions of stars are born in clusters .