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

The award was $6 million total, with Meta splitting the bill with Alphabet, also a defendant in the case.

From Barron's • Mar. 27, 2026

To make their jumbo deals palatable to the most possible investors, big companies are splitting up their deals into more pieces than ever before.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026

The report said it was very likely that the glacier tongue would break off in the coming years, splitting the glacier in two.

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

He has introduced HR 7378, which proposes splitting the difference by permanently sliding the clock forward a half hour and stopping the twice-annual time change.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 7, 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