splinter
Americannoun
-
splinters
plural
-
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)
-
splinters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
splintered,
past participle, past
-
splintering
present participle
-
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:
The ESL was a splinter league formed by 12 of Europe's biggest clubs, including six from the Premier League.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
The bloc of governors would have to splinter before a majority of Fed voters in favor of a hike could carry the day.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 31, 2026
Recently six countries representing most of the bloc’s economy and population formed a splinter group to drive the idea forward, and their leaders are trying to persuade others to join.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
That threat could be a pathogen inside the body or something as simple as a splinter.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 1, 2026
As my uncle clucked again to the horses, I noticed the pain in my finger and saw the splinter still lodged in it.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
But as the middle-class splinters along generational lines, other political experts warn that many ordinary Angelenos feel increasingly shut out of L.A. politics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 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
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
Pitchers build arm strength by pitching, not by growing splinters on their collective butts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2025
A couple of splinters whizz through the top of the kitchen window.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
Other chapters, written in splintered, sharply poeticized fragments, assume Gelsomina’s point of view.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
The increasingly splintered ways in which voters seek information, fueled by the rapid changes in technology and media, has kept political campaign strategists on their toes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
When he climbed the heap of slurry, he saw splintered furniture and ruined papers, but one thing remained intact.
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
After a brief period of postrevolutionary hope, Libya splintered a few years later into two rival governments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
He’d apparently found a new stick, a fallen tree limb that splintered into a hundred tiny daggers.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Vannacci, a former paratrooper, launched FN earlier this year after splintering from Matteo Salvini's League party.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
The estate of Wuthering Heights is foreboding and dark, with rocks splintering through the walls, while Linton’s Thrushcross Grange bears a Victorian aesthetic, containing the outside world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 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
Jason took a last look at the splintering ship.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
