The phrase "almost shattering" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that nearly causes a significant impact or emotional response, but does not fully achieve that effect.
Example: "The news of her departure was almost shattering, leaving everyone in a state of disbelief."
Alternatives: "nearly devastating" or "close to breaking".
At bottom, he observes, "they have nothing in common but the almost shattering unassailability, the life-stricken I, in each.
Instrumental melodies alternate with mystical poetry sung in galvanic, ululating voices; hushed moments swell into almost shattering crescendos.
The performance was almost shattering enough to make a listener forget all that had gone before it.
She can be breathy and girlish, clear and sultry as she seizes a phrase, then almost shattering as her voice crests with a rasp.
The sheer force and rhythmic arrogance in Pozo's playing on the tracks "El Vendedor de Aves" (recorded with the Havana Casino Orchestra in 1940) and "Conga de Los Dandys" can be almost shattering; his drum commentary behind vocals and instrumental passages gives some hint of what an exciting presence he must have been on stage.
I might hear a lone raven croak or caw, and the integrity of that sound, so isolate, can seem almost shattering.
His health had been almost shattered by confinement in the Luxembourg prison, and his face had become inflamed and blotchy.
His country's boycott ended his 1984 dream; a car accident the next year shattered a leg and almost shattered Bilozerchev's career and psychological equilibrium as well.
"Why do you want to marry Lloyd?" "I'm not sure I do," May said, and the look on Lloyd's face almost shattered Tess's heart.
'We hope that it asks questions of the audience about a life that's almost shattered beyond recognition without being tub-thumping or preachy.
The ruse is almost shattered with the surprise visit by a friend of Otar, who brings a suitcase filled with his belongings that Marina and Ada quickly shove into a closet.
