smashing
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.very good, wonderful, or impressive.
adj.denoting excellence or high quality; primarily used as a predicative or attributive adjective in British English.
Simple“We had a smashing time at the party last night.”
In context“The critics agreed that her performance was absolutely smashing, marking a triumphant return to the West End stage.”
UsageCommonly used with 'time', 'idea', or 'job'.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.the act of breaking something brittle, like glass, into many small pieces.
n.the action of violently breaking or shattering a brittle object into fragments.
Simple“The sudden smashing of glass in the kitchen woke everyone up.”
In context“The investigation focused on the deliberate smashing of the shop windows during the midnight protests.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
n.a very informal and rude way to talk about having sex.
n.an act of sexual intercourse; highly informal and potentially offensive depending on the social context.
Simple“He made a crude joke about smashing after the date.”
In context“The lyrics were criticized for their repetitive references to smashing, which many found unnecessarily graphic for a pop song.”
Teacher's tipThis sense is highly informal and can be seen as disrespectful or objectifying; learners should avoid using it in most social settings.
Synonymsshaggingscrewing
“Suburbs across Sydney were expected to reach up to 33C on Saturday afternoon, smashing average September records by up to 13C.”
“Police say the suspects gained entry into the home by smashing in a first-floor window.”
From smash + -ing. As a synonym for wonderful, the term first appeared in the United States in the early twentieth century, and possibly derives from the sense of smash used in smash hit and similar terms. Popular folk etymology connects the term to the broadly homophonous Irish is maith sin or Scottish Gaelic 's math sin ("that is good"), but this has been described as "improbable", and does not appear in the etymological dictionaries.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.