splitting

American  

[split-ing] / ˈsplɪt ɪŋ /

adjective

1. being split or causing something to split.

2. violent or severe, as a headache.

3. very fast or rapid.

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noun

1. Usually splittings. a part or fragment that has been split off from something.

   Some cavemen made their smaller tools from the splittings of stone.

splitting British  

/ ˈsplɪtɪŋ /

adjective

1. (of a headache) intolerably painful; acute

2. (of the head) assailed by an overpowering unbearable pain

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noun

1. psychoanal the Freudian defence mechanism in which an object or idea (or, alternatively, the ego) is separated into two or more parts in order to remove its threatening meaning

Other Word Forms

• antisplitting
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of splitting

First recorded in 1585–95; split + -ing ², -ing ¹

Example Sentences

And unlike Becerra, he didn’t move full-time to D.C., and was splitting his time between the nation’s capital and California, where his family lived.

From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026

Green hydrogen generally refers to hydrogen gas produced from splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewably sourced electricity.

From Barron's • May 11, 2026

Former Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly and BBC Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay have jointly announced they are splitting up.

From BBC • May 8, 2026

These reactions include splitting dihydrogen and enabling the step-by-step insertion and chain growth of ethene, a simple 2-carbon hydrocarbon.

From Science Daily • May 1, 2026

People were everywhere; some working in the quarry itself, others scattered about the hillside; the heftier among the men splitting boulders, the women and children chipping fragments off the larger stones.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

Related Words

• breakdown
• disintegration
• dissolution
• divorce
• separation
• split
• termination