slice
Americannoun
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slices
plural
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a thin, flat piece cut from something.
a slice of bread.
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a part, portion, or share.
a slice of land.
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any of various implements with a thin, broad blade or part, as for turning food in a frying pan, serving fish at the table, or taking up printing ink; spatula.
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Sports.
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the path described by a ball, as in baseball or golf, that curves in a direction corresponding to the side from which it was struck.
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a ball describing such a path.
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Tennis. a stroke executed by hitting down on the ball with an underhand motion and thus creating backspin.
verb (used with object)
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slices,
present (3rd person singular)
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sliced,
past participle, past
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slicing
present participle
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to cut into slices; divide into parts.
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to cut through or cleave with or as if with a knife.
The ship sliced the sea.
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to cut off or remove as a slice or slices (sometimes followed by off, away, from, etc.).
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to remove by means of a slice, slice bar, or similar implement.
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Sports. to hit (a ball) so as to result in a slice.
verb (used without object)
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slices,
present (3rd person singular)
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sliced,
past participle, past
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slicing
present participle
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to slice something.
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to admit of being sliced.
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Sports.
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(of a player) to slice the ball.
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(of a ball) to describe a slice in flight.
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noun
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a thin flat piece cut from something having bulk
a slice of pork
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a share or portion
a slice of the company's revenue
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any of various utensils having a broad flat blade and resembling a spatula
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the flight of a ball that travels obliquely because it has been struck off centre
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the action of hitting such a shot
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the shot so hit
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verb
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to divide or cut (something) into parts or slices
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to cut in a clean and effortless manner
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to move or go (through something) like a knife
the ship sliced through the water
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to cut or be cut (from) a larger piece
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(tr) to remove by use of a slicing implement
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to hit (a ball) with a slice
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(tr) rowing to put the blade of the oar into (the water) slantwise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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slicernoun
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presliceverb (used with object)
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sliceableadjective
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unslicedadjective
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slicinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slicesimple
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slicessimple
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have slicedperfect
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has slicedperfect
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am slicingprogressive
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are slicingprogressive
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is slicingprogressive
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have been slicingperfect progressive
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has been slicingperfect progressive
Past
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slicedsimple
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had slicedperfect
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was slicingprogressive
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were slicingprogressive
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had been slicingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slice
1300–50; (noun) Middle English s ( c ) lice < Old French esclice, noun derivative of esclicer to split up < Frankish *slitjan, akin to Old English slītan, Old Norse slīta, Dutch slījten ( see slit); (v.) late Middle English sklicen < Old French esclicer
Explanation
A slice is a narrow piece or portion of something (particularly food), like a slice of bread or a slice of pizza. You can order a slice of cake or pie at your favorite bakery, or fry potatoes after cutting them into thin slices. Slice can also be used figuratively: "His brothers each own a slice of the business." The expression "slice of life" usually describes a realistic version of life that's depicted in a book, movie, or play. And in golfing, a slice is a stroke that makes the ball curve sharply to one side.
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:
As private label grabs a bigger slice of the retail market, the older, bigger consumer packaged-goods makers are now left with a choice: beat the retailers or join them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Retail sales represent a large slice of consumer spending — the main engine of growth for the U.S. economy.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Maybe they’ll make up more names to slice up the neighborhood, and open even more Whole Foods locations.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
In the historic Japanese city of Kanazawa, craftsmen painstakingly shape and slice blocks of ice destined to chill negronis in some of the world's trendiest bars.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
I slice one of them, but another encircles my legs and closes them tight.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
I spoke to one of the boat staff, Alessio, after he had finished handing round slices of watermelon to the clientele.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
From Leonardo DiCaprio’s 104-acre escape off the coast of Belize to Johnny Depp’s idyllic Bahamian getaway, these stars have spent millions securing their own slices of paradise.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
As orders flood into the restaurant via online food delivery services and a walk-up window, a butcher slices through whole chickens while one cook flips thin slabs of steak and chicken on a grill.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
At the Unitree booth, a robot made a sandwich with two slices of bread and a single piece of lettuce, pinching the leaf to assemble it.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Outside, everyone sings happy birthday, and Avery and I blow out candles and distribute slices of cake.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Kurt-Lee Arendse sliced through open field after Damian McKenzie had broken through in the opposite direction, but Josh Moorby failed to gather his pass.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Then, one by one, the bags were sliced open, and the sand spilled back onto the beach where it had come from.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
By pairing freshly sliced deli meats with a tightly run franchise network and a TV-heavy advertising strategy, the New Jersey-born chain has built a formidable growth machine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
The number of people missing in the catastrophic flood that sliced through the border area between Nepal and Tibet neared 3,000 on Saturday, as rescuers scoured deep, leg-sucking mud for survivors.
From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026
She bent, and with the glamry blade she sliced the stitches from the coat’s hem, and the cloth unfurled.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Poster boy Duncan Scott started the rush, defending his 200m individual medley gold from Birmingham four years ago by slicing a chunk off his own Games record.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
In the classroom, trainees crowded around instructor Luo Duocheng as he demonstrated slicing a slab of beef, marinating it, and skewering the meat to form identical kebabs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
Kagan insists that the Fourth Amendment cannot be defeated by slicing invasions of privacy into pieces small enough to appear constitutionally insignificant.
From Slate ● Jun. 29, 2026
“It sounds like we’re just slicing the bottom of the pyramid off,” Mackenzie said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026
I sort of enjoyed the project—the whiz of slicing plastic, the scream of duct tape coming off the roll, the big speckled rectangles I fit snugly over the door and window.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.
