splinter
Americannoun
-
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)
-
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:
President Bola Tinubu said the attackers were militants from Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter group known to operate in central Nigeria, extending into the southwest.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
The fragile consensus on flattery was starting to splinter, a trend captured by Britain’s MI6.
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
The 21st Century saw dance music splinter into even more sub-genres, providing something for everyone to move to.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
It made her bones crack and splinter, made her feel the astonishing cold of a winter long since past.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
He loved running down the wooden floors of Windsor Castle with his cousins when he was younger trying to avoid getting splinters.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2025
As the film moves from Guatemala to Mexico and then to the United States, Nava slowly splinters the magical realism Rosa and Enrique had grown up with.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2025
The wood floors were dark and difficult to clean because the mop strings caught in splinters and cracks.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Its army eventually withdrew and the Islamist militants left behind splintered and turned against each other.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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
Whoever replaces Petro in August will confront a splintered Congress that will force any incoming administration to build alliances to pass laws.
From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026
In the modern music industry, with listening splintered across various streaming services and social-media platforms, it’s hard to write any song, much less a protest song, that reaches a critical mass of listeners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026
As soon as she spoke, a face—if you could call it that—lowered itself to the doorway, and I shivered at the twisted mouth of splintered wooden planks and knotted chains.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
Instead, the middle class is splintering along generational lines.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Now this very coalition is splintering as his support spirals downward.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 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.
