How to Use shear off in a Sentence

shear off

phrasal verb
  • The impact sheared off both wings and the tail of the plane.
    USA TODAY, 6 Jan. 2024
  • The plane hit the mountain, and the impact sheared off both wings and the plane's tail.
    USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2024
  • The groundhog simply tunneled under the fence and sheared off what was left of the radish stems, emerging bean sprouts, and parsnip greens.
    BostonGlobe.com, 3 May 2023
  • In the 1990s, Natale saw a falling dredge shear off a deckhand’s extended right arm.
    C.j. Chivers James Patrick Cronin Elena Hecht Anna Diamond Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 6 June 2024
  • One the vehicles sheared off a fire hydrant in the crash, the fire department reported.
    Jenny Gold, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2023
  • Each passing year, as storms strike North Texas, forceful gusts would shear off branches and topple trees.
    Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Staff discovered that an underground pipe had sheared off inside the concrete surface of the splash pad, and needs to be dug up and replaced, the post says.
    Mike Danahey, Chicago Tribune, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Several news outlets showed video of a light blue Ferrari 812 Superfast with one of its wheels and side bumpers sheared off.
    Benjamin Oreskes, Los Angeles Times, 3 Dec. 2023
  • The vehicle left the roadway, striking a utility pole which sheared off the front and rear passenger side doors of the car, officials said.
    Megan Jones, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2023
  • Certain varieties of seaweed, like nori, are sheared off rocks with scissors in the harvesting process.
    Iona Brannon, Condé Nast Traveler, 20 Apr. 2023
  • In addition, winds in the region tend to shear off the tops of hurricanes, push storms to the west and northwest away from the coast and push away warmer surface waters, creating an upwelling of colder water.
    Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 1 June 2023
  • Claudel sheared off the head and arms and one knee, leaving the feet planted on the ground to support the woman’s body, a choice that emphasizes the agonized curve of her back, with its perfectly articulated spine.
    Farah Peterson, The Atlantic, 14 Dec. 2023
  • More than 5,000 tons of road, rock and bluff sheared off into the Pacific in Santa Cruz during the recent storms, thrashed by a combination of rising ocean levels, extreme tidal swings and rough seas.
    Scott Wilson, Washington Post, 26 May 2023
  • Witnesses told Goldberg-Polin’s family that he had been injured, his arm perhaps sheared off in one of the explosions; in any case, he was seen boarding the truck conscious but with a tourniquet.
    Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2023
  • On one recent visit to an industrial area just outside the port of Kaohsiung, workers put the final touches on repairs for a coast guard patrol boat whose nose had been sheared off at sea.
    Damien Cave, New York Times, 12 June 2023
  • Already another large crack has appeared in roughly the same spot where the first chunk sheared off — the signs of imminent failure and another reshaping of California’s coast.
    Scott Wilson, Washington Post, 26 May 2023
  • Air defense experts say missiles like the one that hit the market can go off course for a variety of reasons, including an electronic malfunction or a guidance fin that is damaged or sheared off at the time of launch.
    Alexander Cardia, New York Times, 18 Sep. 2023
  • Over the next seven hours, surgeons would cut him open from belly button to sternum, then remove his gallbladder completely in order to access and shear off roughly two thirds of the larger lobe of his liver.
    Ben Paynter, Men's Health, 26 June 2023
  • Fast-moving floodwater sheared off one wall and filled the basement to the ceiling, destroying their brand-new electrical system and two industrial freezers, and knocking the entire garage sideways.
    Jenna Russell, New York Times, 15 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shear off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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