splinter
Americannoun
-
a small, thin, sharp piece of wood, bone, or the like, split or broken off from the main body.
- Synonyms:
- sliver
verb (used with object)
-
to split or break into splinters.
-
to break off (something) in splinters.
-
to split or break (a larger group) into separate factions or independent groups.
-
Obsolete. to secure or support by a splint or splints, as a broken limb.
noun
-
a very small sharp piece of wood, glass, metal, etc, characteristically long and thin, broken off from a whole
-
a metal fragment, from the container of a shell, bomb, etc, thrown out during an explosion
verb
-
to reduce or be reduced to sharp fragments; shatter
-
to break or be broken off in small sharp fragments
Other Word Forms
- splinterless adjective
- splintery adjective
- unsplintered adjective
Etymology
Origin of splinter
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German; splint
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Board games, trips, giant projects that give everyone splinters.
From Literature
The box shattered with a resounding crack, and I threw my hands up as needle-sharp splinters of glass sprayed in all directions.
From Literature
Speak the speech, I pray you, but not in such a way that splinters the overall story.
From Los Angeles Times
The anti-Assad forces were splintered, mutually mistrustful and prone to looting; the areas they controlled descended into anarchy.
From Los Angeles Times
Now this very coalition is splintering as his support spirals downward.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
