splinter
[splin-ter]
- a small, thin, sharp piece of wood, bone, or the like, split or broken off from the main body.
- splinter group.
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- 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.
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- to be split or broken into splinters.
- to break off in splinters.
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Origin of splinter
Synonyms
See more synonyms for splinter on Thesaurus.com1. sliver. 8. separate, part, split.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for splintered
Contemporary Examples
Upstairs, in the living room, splintered logs of hemlock cackled and spat from inside the wood stove.
They splintered themselves into two categories: “Hardcore” and “Casual.”
He didn't lose anyone in "The Sudden Departure," but his family has splintered anyway.
Lieutenant Green was first through the narrow, splintered opening his men had created in the door.
The stories are splintered and refracted, the progressions coiled.
Historical Examples
Then we splintered the hot stone by throwing water on it, and dug out the splinters.
The Trail BookMary Austin
In a fury he flung the glass from him, so that it crashed and splintered upon the floor.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
She was trying to clamber through a trellis of iron and splintered wood.
In a Little TownRupert Hughes
No, he says it is certainly not broken, but it may be splintered.
The Young Franc TireursG. A. Henty
To pierce it would have splintered to pieces the sharpest sword.
The Trail of '98Robert W. Service
splinter
- 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
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- to reduce or be reduced to sharp fragments; shatter
- to break or be broken off in small sharp fragments
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Word Origin
C14: from Middle Dutch splinter; see splint
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for splintered
splinter
n.
late 14c., from Middle Dutch splinter, splenter "a splinter," related to splinte (see splint). The adjective (as in splinter party) is first recorded 1935, from the noun.
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splinter
v.
1580s, from splinter (n.). Figurative sense from c.1600. Related: Splintered; splintering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper