splice

American  

[splahys] / splaɪs /

verb (used with object)

• splices,
  present (3rd person singular)
• spliced,
  past participle,  past
• splicing
  present participle

1. to join together or unite (two ropes or parts of a rope) by the interweaving of strands.

2. to unite (timbers, spars, or the like) by overlapping and binding their ends.

3. to unite (film, magnetic tape, or the like) by butting and cementing.

4. to join or unite.

5. Genetics. to join (segments of DNA or RNA) together.

6. Informal. to unite in marriage.

   They'll be spliced in June.

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noun

• splices
  plural

1. a joining of two ropes or parts of a rope by splicing.

2. the union or junction made by splicing.

3. a joining or junction of two pieces of timber, spar, etc., by overlapping and fastening the ends.

4. a joining of film, electromagnetic tape, or the like.

idioms

1. splice the main brace,

   1. to issue a ration of spirits, as grog, to all hands.

   2. to drink spirits.

splice British  

/ splaɪs /

verb

1. to join (two ropes) by intertwining the strands

2. to join up the trimmed ends of (two pieces of wire, film, magnetic tape, etc) with solder or an adhesive material

3. to join (timbers) by overlapping and binding or bolting the ends together

4. informal (passive) to enter into marriage

   the couple got spliced last Saturday

5. nautical history to issue and partake of an extra allocation of alcoholic spirits

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noun

1. a join made by splicing

2. the place where such a join occurs

3. the wedge-shaped end of a cricket-bat handle or similar instrument that fits into the blade

splice Scientific  

/ splīs /

1. To join together genes or gene fragments or insert them into a cell or other structure, such as a virus, by means of enzymes. In genetic engineering, scientists splice together genetic material to produce new genes or to alter a genetic structure. In messenger RNA, the introns are removed, and exons are spliced together to yield the final messenger RNA that is translated.

2. See also exon intron

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• splicer
  noun
• resplice
  verb (used with object)
• undersplice
  verb (used with object)
• spliceable
  adjective
• unspliced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• splices
  plural

Participles

• splicing
  present
• spliced
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• splice
  simple
• splices
  simple
• have spliced
  perfect
• has spliced
  perfect
• am splicing
  progressive
• are splicing
  progressive
• is splicing
  progressive
• have been splicing
  perfect progressive
• has been splicing
  perfect progressive

Past

• spliced
  simple
• had spliced
  perfect
• was splicing
  progressive
• were splicing
  progressive
• had been splicing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will splice
  simple
• will have spliced
  perfect
• will be splicing
  progressive
• will have been splicing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of splice

1515–25; < earlier Dutch splissen (now splitsen )

Explanation

As noun and verb, splice refers to the overlapping or interweaving of two ends of something to create the strongest possible attachment. The earliest records of the word splice are from the early 16th century, when it was borrowed from the Middle Dutch verb splissen, used by sailors for joining ropes end to end by interweaving their strands. In 1912, the infant motion-picture industry took over the word splice to refer to the cutting and joining of film in the editing process. In 1975, scientists found they could alter genes by cutting and adding chunks of DNA, creating the science of gene splicing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

splice splices spliced splicing

Shortly after the launch, Altman encouraged users to find different ways to splice him into famous or iconic scenes from popular culture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 24, 2026

"There is a splice site in Homer1 that can be pharmacologically targeted, which may be an ideal way to help dial the knob on brain signal-to-noise levels," Rajasethupathy says.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 2, 2026

He turned off the camera, blasted hardcore punk and began to splice his reel together.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025

Rather than stingily splice the historical sources, as the Carralero court did, those judges drew upon the historical principles that justified locational restrictions.

From Slate ● Jan. 3, 2024

Now, so many highly respected writers adopt the splice comma that a rather unfair rule emerges on this one: only do it if you’re famous.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author

Daniel Mason splices together different narrative strands to create a single story connecting its successive inhabitants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

Another early highlight, Reliquia, chops and splices a chamber quartet into unrecognisable electronic patterns, as Rosalía reconciles herself to the idea that she loves too hard, and locates the beauty in that vulnerability.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025

The active splicing factor splices out the inhibitory exon in the transcription factor, which turns on the genes that produce collagen.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 26, 2024

Over decades of testing, there are now hundreds of splices in those critical loops.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 10, 2023

Werner rewinds the resistance track and splices the wires and plugs in the radio.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Instead of simply measuring the total amounts of RNA and protein, as many studies do, Kalsotra's team used deep RNA sequencing and computational analysis to examine how RNA fragments were being spliced.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

The video is a compilation of clips of charismatic Christian prophet Kim Clement, spliced together from 2007 appearances in California and Arizona.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

The product wasn’t profitable, and every user who spliced themselves into a World War II newsreel or Hollywood chase scene drew down a finite resource.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 30, 2026

Carr said he wanted to determine if the BBC provided either the video or audio of the spliced speech to any broadcaster "regulated by the FCC for airing in the US".

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2025

At that moment Bull glanced over at Lillian, irritation spliced on the corners of his mouth.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

Some are using genetic testing and exploring gene splicing to produce children with desired traits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025

He said the error did not amount to "innocent splicing".

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

The new lawsuit filed by Baldoni accuses the New York Times of cherry-picking texts, stripping them of context and deliberately splicing them to mislead readers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2025

Not only is splicing cell-type-specific, but its genetic regulation is also cell-type-specific.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2024

I pull up what he sent me, and then I run both files together, splicing them into one.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Related Words

• graft