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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Messi’s deft chip over the goalkeeper and two scrambling defenders was a vintage finish from the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.—
Felipe Cardenas,
New York Times,
5 Sep. 2025
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America’s supremacy in chip designing is uncontested.—
Tiana Lowe Doescher,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The token slivers of human-interest drama (a divorce battle, a visit to the pediatrician) that are meant to counterpoint the possibility of Armageddon with the oh-so-ironic triviality of quotidian concerns.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
2 Sep. 2025
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Obviously, the overall deliveries are instrumental in establishing the average unit cost for each 30-second sliver of airtime, but when a half-minute is commanding $8 million a pop, there’s only so much extra dough that can be squeezed out of the Big Game’s sponsors.—
Anthony Crupi,
Sportico.com,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Police and shark biologists are analyzing Psillakis’s body and fragments of his surfboard, as well as speaking with witnesses, to determine the shark species, 9News added.—
Laura Sharman,
CNN Money,
7 Sep. 2025
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The team's model demonstrated that turbulence, or irregular motion, in giant collapsing gas clouds can form lower-mass cloud fragments from which lower-mass stars condense.—
Luke Keller,
Space.com,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The brittle, eco-friendly bamboo straw is another concession to the community, as are the splinters.—
Joe Joyce,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Sep. 2025
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The syntax of reason splinters by the hour.—
Alaa Alqaisi
August 13,
Literary Hub,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Make a savory bean dip by draining and rinsing a can of beans and then blending with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and optional herbs and chili flakes.—
Jess Cording,
Forbes.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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In a jar or salad dressing shaker, stir together almond butter, garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, coconut aminos, lime juice and red pepper flakes.—
Bethany Thayer,
Freep.com,
31 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Did a Smurl sister really vomit bloody glass shards?—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
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But there are also flashes of visual splendor, like tiny shards of some kind of exotic broken vase — fragments of what could have been.—
Jordan Mintzer,
HollywoodReporter,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Spall.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spall. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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