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 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
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
He took the lantern to the stove, lit a splinter of kindling through the open door-draft, and held it to the lantern wick the way his father always did.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
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
Navigating around the crater, Al-Ahmad trudged into the blown-out remains of the hall, his feet crunching on an underbrush of glass, wood splinters and insulation.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
As attention splinters and our realities feel increasingly fractured, it makes sense that Coachella would begin to mirror that condition, each version just real enough to feel like the whole thing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 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
He described Neubauer as having "splinters on top of his brain" from his war wound.
From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple
“Immediately noticeable were the sagging eaves, the multitude of leaks from the roof, the dried out, splintered mahogany and the battered exterior woodwork, which had suffered seven decades of winds from the Sound.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
Its army eventually withdrew and the Islamist militants left behind splintered and turned against each other.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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
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
They watched as small boats left on the river’s banks were swept up and splintered by the power of the water.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
The serious journalism Margaret aspires to do is splintering under our distrust of who controls the megaphones.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 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
Unless there was the sound of breaking glass, screams, or splintering furniture, Mr. Larson didn’t even look up.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
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.
