sliver

American  

[sliv-er] / ˈslɪv ər /

noun

• slivers
  plural

1. a small, slender, often sharp piece, as of wood or glass, split, broken, or cut off, usually lengthwise or with the grain; splinter.

2. any small, narrow piece or portion.

   A sliver of sky was visible.

3. a strand of loose, untwisted fibers produced in carding.

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verb (used with object)

1. to split or cut off (a sliver) or to split or cut into slivers.

   to sliver a log into kindling.

2. to form (textile fibers) into slivers.

verb (used without object)

1. to split.

sliver British  

/ ˈslɪvə /

noun

1. a thin piece that is cut or broken off lengthwise; splinter

2. a loose strand or fibre obtained by carding

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verb

1. to divide or be divided into splinters; split

2. (tr) to form (wool, etc) into slivers

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sliver-like
  adjective
• sliverlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• slivers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of sliver

1325–75; Middle English slivere (noun), derivative of sliven to split, Old English -slīfan (in tōslīfan to split up

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Explanation

A very thin slice or bit of something is a sliver. A sliver of hope is better than a sliver of doubt, but having a sliver of wood in your foot is the worst. That’s called a splinter, and it hurts! You'll want to watch out for slivers of glass if you break a drinking glass in the sink, and machinists have to wear special protective goggles to guard against flying slivers of metal. If you just want a bite of dessert, you can ask for just a sliver of cheesecake. Sliver is also a verb, meaning "splinter," or "cut into thin pieces." It comes from a verb that's now obsolete, sliven, "to split."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sliver slivers

Three weeks is only a sliver of the NFL season; a backsliding team has plenty of time to correct its course.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

Iran could move no more than 40,000 barrels a day via trucks, a sliver of its prewar exports of close to 2 million barrels a day, Falakshahi said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

A big TAM tells investors that capturing even a sliver of the market could mean a great business.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2026

To be sure, these products still represent just a sliver of overall ETF assets, even if they’re among the hottest categories for new fund launches in the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026

Then another sliver moved and I felt something fall into my lap.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

Mr Mohammed says that his father and grandfather had dug through these plots for decades but discovered nothing more that "dust and slivers of quartz".

From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025

Thin slivers of pig’s ears came with long-cooked pork belly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2025

Those tactics included secretly cornering slivers of the financial markets and “watering” stock—defrauding investors by issuing shares well above their book value.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025

The other was freshly tossed in a kerosene-fueled wok, yielding glossy, chewy noodles bursting with soy sauce, blackened slivers of onion, and, most importantly, that elusive, umami-filled char called wok hei.

From Salon ● May 15, 2024

The ocean perked up a little from the reflection of these colored slivers in the sky.

From "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles

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Related Words

• flake
• fragment
• shaving
• shred
• slice
• snippet

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