Meaning

3 senses

  1. (transitive)To destroy an article of clothing etc. by shredding.

  2. (intransitive)To fall into tatters.

  3. (Ireland, dialectal)To go at great speed.

Examples

9 sentences

  1. The child's clothes were in tatters.

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  2. Felix was dressed in tattered clothing.

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  3. I see a tattered flag which continues to flutter in the wind.

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  4. Layla's reputation was in tatters.

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  5. Mennad's image was in tatters.

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Origin

From Middle English tater, from Old Norse tǫturr, from Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz (“tuft,

From Middle English tater, from Old Norse tǫturr, from Proto-Germanic *tat(t)uraz (“tuft, patch”). Cognate with Icelandic tötur (“rag, tatter”).

From tat (“origin unknown”) + -er (“frequentative suffix”). Compare tattle.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

tatters, tattering, tattered, tattered
Base formtatter · to tatter
3rd person singulartatters
Present participletattering
Past simpletattered
Past participletattered

irregular

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theytatter
he, she, ittatters

Past simpleLesson

all personstattered

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave tattered
he, she, ithas tattered

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill tatter

Word family

4 related words
Derivedfortattertatterertatterytatty

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
tattatamitatetattletattooB2
tatter — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto