as in chip
a small flat piece separated from a whole
found a variety of uses for the spalls left over from their stonecutting operations
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Recent Examples of spall
The curtains are made up of overlapping, three-quarter inch plates of AR500 steel encased in a layer of ballistic nylon that captures spall, the shards of metal that break off from a colliding bullet.
—
Dan Robitzski, Popular Mechanics, 8 Mar. 2018
The reports noted that numerous repairs had been made to cracks and spalls in the spillway.
—Bettina Boxall, latimes.com, 24 Apr. 2017
Dan Robitzski, Popular Mechanics, 8 Mar. 2018
The reports noted that numerous repairs had been made to cracks and spalls in the spillway.
—Bettina Boxall, latimes.com, 24 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spall
Noun
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State police later searched the area near the steel bridge and found among the piles of wood chips an envelope bearing the victim’s name, pieces of bone and tissue, a human fingernail and crowns to the victim’s teeth, prosecutors said.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
27 Mar. 2026
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The blue-chip Dow and the small-cap Russell 2000 are also nearing correction territory, each down about 9% from its all-time high.—
Yun Li,
CNBC,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Smaller by far and equally jaw-dropping is La Copine, a sliver of a restaurant in nearby Yucca Valley.—
Scott Hocker,
TheWeek,
24 Mar. 2026
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The Chokepoint That Moves the World The Strait of Hormuz is a sliver of water barely 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, separating Iran from Oman.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The notes bounced over the lapping water, and people’s voices came in fragments.—
Cassandra Neyenesch,
New Yorker,
29 Mar. 2026
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The event Moskovitz is referring to occurred on March 21, when a 1-ton, 3-foot-wide meteor exploded over Texas, with a cannonball-sized fragment crashing through the roof of a house in Bammel, near Cypress Station, north of Houston, Texas.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The goal is to isolate populations and splinter power.—
Jane M. Saks,
Chicago Tribune,
23 Mar. 2026
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The group began as a splinter of Al-Qaeda two decades ago, and in 2013 and 2014 took over several large cities in Iraq and Syria.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Sprinkle with more oregano and crushed red pepper flakes (if using).—
Rebecca Firkser,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
22 Mar. 2026
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The lip exfoliators have delicate sugar crystals that gently scrub to reveal smooth, supple, flake-free lips.—
Tory Johnson,
ABC News,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Cristobal’s arc can use a mite more variance overall, but her playing of Margot’s inner-torture from having to live with the literal shards of blood on her neck is effective.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
27 Mar. 2026
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Most of those issues have been from oil, lubrication, other or casing or shards inside the engines.—
Joel Feder,
The Drive,
26 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spall.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spall. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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