splitting

[ split-ing ]

adjective

1. being split or causing something to split.
2. violent or severe, as a headache.
3. very fast or rapid.

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

/ ˈsplɪtɪŋ /

adjective

1. (of a headache) intolerably painful; acute
2. (of the head) assailed by an overpowering unbearable pain

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 Words From

• anti·splitting adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of splitting¹

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

Example Sentences

Shesterkin is splitting time with 24-year-old netminder Alex Georgiev.

From Washington Post

The catalyst works by splitting molecules of CO2 into the carbon and oxygen atoms from which they’re made.

From Science News For Students

Collecting large amounts of CO2 from the air is very tricky, and splitting water to make hydrogen also uses a lot of power.

From Singularity Hub 

Clemson and Notre Dame splitting will make it hard to leave either out.

From Washington Post

In other words, ticket-splitting didn’t vary that much within each state and was, in most cases, pretty minimal.

From FiveThirtyEight

Again, the difference can seem subtle and sound more like splitting hairs, but the difference is important.

From The Daily Beast

Fumbleroooohski…'” (39) “'Look at me, ungh, splitting my own seam, oohh… going deep.

From The Daily Beast

When it came to shooting the famous parting of the Red Sea, Ridley Scott elected to show a tsunami splitting the waters.

From The Daily Beast

Was it a classic case of vote splitting between the four actors or ARE THE EMMYS HOMOPHOBIC???

From The Daily Beast

In the early 2000s, after splitting with his wife of 20 years, Stephenson began devoting more time to his interest in art.

From The Daily Beast

If they see us splitting the breeze down Lost River, they won't look for us to bob up from the opposite quarter to-morrow.

From Project Gutenberg

A small miner's pick is useful for cutting out, and splitting portions of slaty rocks; or for obtaining specimens of clays, etc.

From Project Gutenberg

The poison of an infectious disease kills by splitting and destroying the nuclei of the body's cells.

From Project Gutenberg

If you fasten it with stout tacks, it will be strong enough, and there will be no danger of splitting the wood of the ends.

From Project Gutenberg

Rigid care has been taken to exclude such dramatic pieces which are fittingly described as "side-splitting farces."

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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