slit
Americanverb (used with object)
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slits,
present (3rd person singular)
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slit,
past participle, past
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slitting
present participle
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to cut apart or open along a line; make a long cut, fissure, or opening in.
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to cut or rend into strips; split.
noun
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slits
plural
verb
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to make a straight long incision in; split open
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to cut into strips lengthwise
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to sever
noun
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a long narrow cut
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a long narrow opening
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slitsimple
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slitssimple
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have slitperfect
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has slitperfect
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am slittingprogressive
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are slittingprogressive
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is slittingprogressive
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have been slittingperfect progressive
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has been slittingperfect progressive
Past
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slitsimple
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had slitperfect
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was slittingprogressive
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were slittingprogressive
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had been slittingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slit
1175–1225; Middle English slitte (noun), slitten (v.); cognate with German schlitzen to split, slit; akin to Old English slite a slit, geslit a bite, slītan to split; see slice
Explanation
A very narrow slot or cut in something is a slit. You might fill your pita bread with falafel by first making a slit in its side. A long strip of sunlight might shine through a slit in your curtains and wake you up in the morning. Or you may narrow your eyes to slits in anger when you see the mess your sister made in your room. You can also use this word as a verb, to mean "cut into," like when you slit a croissant and insert jam, or slit an envelope with an old-fashioned letter opener.
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:
And singer Rose, a multiple Grammy nominee this year for "APT," her banger collab with Bruno Mars, wore a chic strapless black dress with a high slit and an outsized bird brooch at her waist.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
Knowing approximately when to head home for the day could be guessed by examining nature—even by looking at a sheep’s pupils, which go from a rectangular slit to a wide orb as the light fades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
By the time Tom has tracked Robbie to his home, the dreamer’s vast horizon has narrowed to a slit.
From Salon ● Oct. 6, 2025
She accessorized the flowy gown — which featured a leg slit — with a black bedazzled clock choker, black arm-length gloves and black peep-toe heels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
Mrs. Tiflin took a hairpin from her head and slit open the flap.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
This pattern revealed that each electron behaved like a wave, with its quantum wave-function passing through both slits at once and interfering with itself.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 28, 2026
Not one of the galleries has a skylight, although some have one or two slender slits atop the walls that admit weak slivers of borrowed light.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
It found that these particles, which can either act like a particle or wave, acted as waves passing through both slits in the experiment when they were unobserved.
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2025
Seat of the county of Los Angeles since it opened in 1960, it looks like a Lego block with slits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2025
His eyes narrowed to slits, and even through that thin gap, I could see his hatred for the name.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Pork is not halal, and other animals, such as chicken, beef and lamb, must be slaughtered under certified-halal standards such as the humane slitting of the throat.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2022
The rough scrape of a spoon scouring the empty cup of a emptied avocado, the stitching of a paring knife slitting a vanilla bean pod.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2018
The Arizona Republican Party, they’re just slitting their own throats,’ said John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, which has a larger population than St. Louis.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 12, 2018
But Cline – eager to escape her own poor, working-class origins in Virginia – found it preferable to her previous job slitting chicken throats on an assembly line.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 25, 2017
Baring his teeth and slitting his eye, he whipped fiercely away until they fell back and scattered in disorder, hiding behind gravestones.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
