Idiom
shatter the ice
Meaning
To break the ice in a sudden or dramatic fashion.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He shattered the ice with a loud, unexpected joke.”
“The room was silent until she shattered the ice by shouting a bold, controversial opinion.”
“With a sudden, sharp remark that silenced the room, he shattered the ice and forced the group to confront the tension they had ignored for hours.”
Examples
simple
“He shattered the ice with a loud, unexpected joke.”
contextual
“The room was silent until she shattered the ice by shouting a bold, controversial opinion.”
complex
“With a sudden, sharp remark that silenced the room, he shattered the ice and forced the group to confront the tension they had ignored for hours.”
Origin
The phrase is a figurative extension of the metaphor established in the earlier idiom to break the ice. It employs the same imagery of clearing a frozen passage, though with a distinct emphasis on the suddenness of the disruption.
Key words
Related idioms
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