(n.) A rag, or a part torn and hanging; -- chiefly used in the plural.
(v. t.) To rend or tear into rags; -- used chiefly in the past participle as an adjective.
Example Sentences:
(1) But over-promising has left him in a worse position with all three than he was in before, and with his credibility in tatters.
(2) The Guardian witnessed one desperate vignette in Gevgeliya on Saturday: a Syrian woman in her 40s asking a fellow traveller for money to buy shoes as hers were in tatters.
(3) Barack Obama's policy of engagement with North Korea lies "in tatters" after it was effectively shot down by Pynongyang's defiant but failed attempt to launch a long-range rocket.
(4) George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: "This is hugely significant, as it completely vindicates the big decision taken by David Cameron and myself on the economy, and it leaves Gordon Brown's political plans for the G20 and the budget in tatters."
(5) An attempt by George Osborne to besmirch the reputation of Ed Balls by linking him directly to the Libor-fixing scandal lay in tatters on Monday night after the Bank of England cleared the shadow chancellor .
(6) The violence has left in tatters a 2013 ceasefire aimed at allowing a final peace deal to end the PKK’s three-decade insurgency, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
(7) Matthew Pennycook is MP for Greenwich and Woolwich Louise Haigh: ‘Bringing down Corbyn would be an act of betrayal’ Facebook Twitter Pinterest Louise Haigh New Labour was a response to a Tory party in tatters, besieged by scandal, its fiscal credibility in ruins, tired and out of ideas.
(8) Sunderland’s right-back, Santiago Vergini, inadvertently gave Southampton the lead by lashing the ball into his own net in the 12th minute, and that signalled the start of a barmy encounter that had home fans in raptures and Sunderland in tatters.
(9) The US has warned it could level “serious sanctions” on Russia within days over breaches of Ukraine’s truce, which is in tatters despite pro-Moscow rebels and government forces exchanging scores of prisoners.
(10) Even if you don't get the gag on the way in – the doormen wear tattered clothes – then the penny drops when you enter the L-shaped, 200-capacity basement and see the satirical murals spoofing Manhattan's high-society swells.
(11) Even her own colleagues are saying her net migration target is in tatters.
(12) He had taken from YuzuÞ the tattered evidence of my walk across South Asia and was examining it: the clipping from the newspaper in western Nepal, 'Mr Stewart is a pilgrim for peace'; the letter from the Conservator, Second Circle, Forestry Department, Himachal Pradesh, India: 'Mr Stewart, a Scot, is interested in the environment'; from a District OfÞcer in the Punjab and a Secretary of the Interior in a Himalayan state and a Chief Engineer of the Pakistan Department of Irrigation requesting 'All Executive Engineers (XENs) on the Lower Bari Doab to assist Mr Stewart, who will be undertaking a journey on foot to research the history of the canal system'.
(13) He accomplished a few, mainly social reforms – but he leaves a country on edge, and a left in tatters.
(14) He’s also received a legal notice telling him a court judgment had been entered against him, and his credit file was left in tatters, leaving his plans to build an extension hanging in the balance.
(15) As Scotland Yard surveys the tatters of the Morgan case the picture has become not clearer but more opaque.
(16) The sudden switch by Yanukovych following weeks of brinkmanship left European policy towards the post-Soviet states to its east in tatters.
(17) The opposition is in tatters and divided on how to confront this implacable force.
(18) Awet clutches a tattered Norwegian identity card as he talks.
(19) She arrived, shoved her pager at me and a tattered piece of paper with about 12 names on it.
(20) The chancellor's forecasts of £43bn of borrowing this year are in tatters and some experts have warned that debt could balloon to £120bn in three years.
Titter
Definition:
(v. t.) To laugh with the tongue striking against the root of the upper teeth; to laugh with restraint, or without much noise; to giggle.
(n.) A restrained laugh.
(v. i.) To seesaw. See Teeter.
Example Sentences:
(1) But in and among the general approval, there was the odd titter that such a well-established prize should find itself being backed by a purveyor of sticky drinks.
(2) But there’s also generic observational material (how British people avoid speaking to strangers on trains, and so on), and I soon found Hess’s incessant burbling and tittering around largely trivial subjects beginning to wash over me.
(3) The audience tittered when Murdoch said he thought the channel's news coverage had no political bias.
(4) Well Dave genuinely thought the reptiles would go mad for tantric sex lolz because when he tested it in cabinet people were seriously woof, Govey was so hysterical that Haguey was like, hark at Lady Govina, titter ye not missus & Picklesy kept shouting encore, so Dave said funny you should ask, well they have this position called the BT engineer as in you stay in all day and no one comes.
(5) There was a bit of tittering from the audience and it has to be said that in this city of nostalgia and football passion, where Diego Maradona will always be king and everybody is an expert, Benítez retains popular support.
(6) The muses holding up the balcony tittered and the huge chandelier, only just out of reach of Dodd's enormous tickling stick, tinkled with delight.
(7) Labour's shadow education secretary, and historian, Tristram Hunt retorts that it is Gove's argument, rather than unpatriotic Britons tittering over fictional tortoises, that is really shocking.
(8) And there was a certain amount of twitter tittering about two of the world's most eminent economists getting their sums wrong.
(9) It’s easier to say we are not guilty, the Russians are guilty … It reminds me of antisemitism: the Jews are guilty of everything,” Putin said at the end of his comments, which drew titters from the audience.
(10) Nadine Dorries "the suspended member for Mid Bedfordshire" – titter ye not – has not yet achieved her stated aim of encouraging a discussion about abortion or the nasty Lib Dems while emptying the dunny.
(11) There are a few titters from the crowd; the venue comfortably holds about 100, but because of the excitable reviews for Musgraves's new album, Same Trailer Different Park , the room is crammed with perhaps double that.
(12) With a competitive league match under their belts, most English teams will have a better of idea where they stand with regard to the season ahead, with Arsenal the subject of much tittering in the wake of their home defeat at the hands of West Ham after All That Talk.
(13) Pretentious in the best sense of the word, Bush in the early 80s became one of those artists, such as the Associates or Japan, who caused Radio 1 daytime DJs to titter nervously, or be openly derisive.
(14) At this point in our conversation Portman, 26 now but still with the proportions and doll-like features of a child, titters - there's no other word for it - nervously.
(15) Significant differences in end point titter were observed both within and between species.
(16) So forget Shagga, titter ye not and consider the (serious face) … Geopolitical context Remember that episode of Borgen where they spent an hour that you'll never get back on the power plays over the election of Denmark's next EU commissioner?
(17) Let the camp tittering cease while its spiritual significance is finally acknowledged.
(18) A real human voice – the conductor, presumably – raises a significant titter in the carriage when reminding us of this, adding “assuming they arrive on time”.
(19) "A mountain has been made out of a molehill," said Dave Bassett, oblivious to the tittering around him.
(20) Titter in the audience as he speaks of the controversy the award has generated.