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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
splintersimple
-
splinterssimple
-
have splinteredperfect
-
has splinteredperfect
-
am splinteringprogressive
-
are splinteringprogressive
-
is splinteringprogressive
-
have been splinteringperfect progressive
-
has been splinteringperfect progressive
Past
-
splinteredsimple
-
had splinteredperfect
-
was splinteringprogressive
-
were splinteringprogressive
-
had been splinteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of splinter
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German; cf. splint
Explanation
A splinter is a narrow, pointed sliver that breaks off something larger. If you walk barefoot on a wooden floor, dock, or boardwalk, you might get a splinter of wood in your foot. Ouch! We often use the word splinter to refer to tiny shards of wood that lodge under the skin, but a sliver of any hard material — stone, glass, bone, wood, metal — can be called a splinter. When something splinters, it breaks into individual bits. You can also use the word figuratively to describe something that separates in a violent or forceful way, like when a mainstream political party splinters into more or less extreme groups.
Vocabulary lists containing splinter
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"Mother to Son"
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"Mississippi Solo" by Eddy Harris
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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.
See Examples For:
President Bola Tinubu said the attackers were militants from Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group known to operate in central Nigeria, extending into the southwest.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
That threat could be a pathogen inside the body or something as simple as a splinter.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
The county’s steps haven’t stopped the chaos: A splinter group from the condo now has elected a new board, which claims to have rightful control over the property.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
As the Beatles began to splinter, Spitz writes, the Stones sharpened their focus.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 20, 2026
The splinter in Zeitoun’s foot was now infected.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
The ocean scenery is fake; the wooden splinters are real.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
I also wanted to understand if my treatment, which forced me to excavate painful childhood memories lodged beneath the surface, like splinters the skin had long healed over, could help others.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Navigating around the crater, Al-Ahmad trudged into the blown-out remains of the hall, his feet crunching on an underbrush of glass, wood splinters and insulation.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
Most top directors can’t act to save their lives, which is why they tend to appear as themselves and stick out like splinters.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
The only thing I achieved was getting splinters.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Its army eventually withdrew and the Islamist militants left behind splintered and turned against each other.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
And like all of television, reality is facing splintered and waning audiences so the decibel level of that conversation-sparking is often dialed way up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2026
In the modern music industry, with listening splintered across various streaming services and social-media platforms, it’s hard to write any song, much less a protest song, that reaches a critical mass of listeners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
Instead, after the region won independence from Spain in the early 19th century, it splintered into almost three dozen states of varying commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
From Barron's ● Jan. 18, 2026
His magnifying-glass had splintered into many pieces and he had leapt up shrieking, "My father is going to get you for this!"
From "The Witches" by Roald Dahl
Instead, the middle class is splintering along generational lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Now this very coalition is splintering as his support spirals downward.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2026
Individual investors kicked off 2026 by taking a page from the playbook of global central banks and stockpiling gold as a hedge against a splintering world order.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 10, 2026
“Even if there is some post-crackdown splintering, the nucleus of the regime now has even more incentive to stick together.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 12, 2026
As the car moved, the splintering of wood sounded over their heads, a splintering that changed into splitting of boards and scraping of metal.
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
