splint
Americannoun
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splints
plural
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a thin piece of wood or other rigid material used to immobilize a fractured or dislocated bone, or to maintain any part of the body in a fixed position.
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one of a number of thin strips of wood woven together to make a chair seat, basket, etc.
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Veterinary Medicine. an exostosis or bony enlargement of a splint bone of a horse or a related animal.
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Armor.
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any of a number of narrow plates or lames joined with rivets or a backing to form a piece of armor.
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a partial vambrace protecting only the outer part of the arm.
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British Dialect. a splinter of wood or stone.
verb (used with object)
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splints,
present (3rd person singular)
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splinted,
past participle, past
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splinting
present participle
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to secure, hold in position, or support by means of a splint or splints, as a fractured bone.
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to support as if with splints.
noun
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a rigid support for restricting movement of an injured part, esp a broken bone
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a thin sliver of wood, esp one that is used to light cigars, a fire, etc
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a thin strip of wood woven with others to form a chair seat, basket, etc
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vet science inflammation of the small metatarsal or metacarpal bones along the side of the cannon bone of a horse
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one of the overlapping metal plates used in armour after about 1330
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another word for splinter
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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splintsimple
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splintssimple
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have splintedperfect
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has splintedperfect
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am splintingprogressive
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are splintingprogressive
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is splintingprogressive
-
have been splintingperfect progressive
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has been splintingperfect progressive
Past
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splintedsimple
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had splintedperfect
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was splintingprogressive
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were splintingprogressive
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had been splintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of splint
1275–1325; Middle English < Middle Dutch or Middle Low German splinte; cf. splinter
Explanation
A splint is something that's used to keep a person's arm or leg straight and immobile while a broken bone is healing. If you break your wrist, you may need to wear a splint for a while. Some splints are temporary, meant to keep an injured person's bones from moving until they can be examined by a doctor. EMTs and other emergency workers often use splints while transporting someone to a hospital. You can also use this word as a verb: "Let's splint your dog's leg and get her to the vet." A strip of wood can also be called a splint.
Vocabulary lists containing splint
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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:
She has to wear a pressure garment for 23 hours a day and sleeps in a splint.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
"I've never experienced such terrible pain in my life. I made a splint and crutches out of wood," he writes.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
He wanted to keep playing, though, so trainers applied a splint that was essentially a popsicle stick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
The eagle’s left wing was fractured and needed a splint.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 5, 2024
So while Dilsey held the horse Luster put a splint on the flower stalk with a twig and two bits of string and gave it to Ben.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
The most recent work, Berenice Olmedo’s “Amalia,” a motorized sculpture of a leg made from medical prostheses, splints and braces, was created in 2021, a comment on difficulties faced by the disabled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
The centre was set up around 60 years ago by a Belgian Catholic association and has a workshop for producing prostheses, splints and braces.
From Barron's ● Dec. 21, 2025
Plastic spoons serve as splints for broken fingers, children are examined in makeshift tents and cough drops are handed out by the hundreds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2023
Kansas guard Johnny Furphy played with no limitations after dealing with shin splints during the preseason.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 6, 2023
Apparently he is pleased at my self-control, for he now sets my leg carefully in splints and says: “To-morrow you’ll be off home.”
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
“They were able to put his finger back together and it’s splinted and he’s day-to-day,” Redick said Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2026
What he did recall was having his arm splinted in a comfortable position and making plans to have surgery the next day at a hospital in the Chicagoland area unaffiliated with Froedtert South.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2022
Some medical experts have previously suggested Saffie's legs should have been splinted.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2021
Urshela’s bat splinted when he grounded into a double play in the second inning.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 19, 2021
I gave her everything she asked for out of her satchel, and soon she had the arm splinted.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
It was a very interesting nine-month tour of duty in military service, tactical training, and of course the medical aspect of evaluating injuries, administering morphine, splinting and stopping bleeding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
Cross-examining Dr Evans, Mr Myers said: "If you really thought that splinting the diaphragm was a cause of death you would have stated that before today, wouldn't you?"
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2022
When the records arrived, they showed the splinting that Shah remembered but not the treatment that was driving up his bill.
From Salon ● Oct. 26, 2022
A trauma nurse and a medical doctor were among the group of hikers and Justa said they helped tremendously with splinting, wrapping injuries and taking her vitals, for which he’s grateful.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 24, 2016
Mudd finishes splinting the leg, then leaves Booth alone in an upstairs room to rest.
From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly
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.
