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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Nvidia’s global ambition As Nvidia’s chips have become the backbone of the global AI industry, the company’s partnerships have expanded well beyond North America.—
Rosa de Acosta,
CNN Money,
7 Feb. 2026
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The chip market will continue to have its characteristic boom-and-bust cycles, but the long-term upward trend is clearly established, Neuffer said.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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To hunt for these slivers of a second, the United States Olympic speedskating team has put traditional analytics on ice and turned to a new tool powered by artificial intelligence to simulate skaters’ complex aerodynamics.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
4 Feb. 2026
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So when scientists discovered slivers of much older continental crust surrounded by younger oceanic material, something didn’t add up.—
Evan Howell,
Scientific American,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Although most of the fragments in it show figurative details, the picture overall dissolves into an abstract pattern.—
Benjamin Lima
Special Contributor,
Dallas Morning News,
7 Feb. 2026
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Shifting the pricing pressure to individuals fragments purchasing power and weakens collective negotiation.—
Sreedhar Potarazu,
Baltimore Sun,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Jeff Clanagan painted a picture of a landscape in which movie stardom is no longer protected by traditional channels, as attention splinters across platforms and audiences fragment.—
Josh Rottenberg,
Twin Cities,
31 Dec. 2025
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The paper also prevents wear and tear on the wood surface and keeps small splinters from snagging delicate clothing.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
25 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Slide the dish into a hot oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the corn flake topping turns golden and crisp.—
Maggie Meyer Glisan,
Better Homes & Gardens,
8 Feb. 2026
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For example, people in normally snowy Salt Lake City have barely seen a flake of snow and Phoenix is sweltering through its warmest winter since records began, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok.—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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To make this mulch, crush broken terracotta pieces into smaller chunky shards and scatter them around snail and slug-vulnerable plants, including lettuces, hostas, or strawberries.—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
6 Feb. 2026
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Images in the aftermath of the attack showed bodies covered in blood lying on the floor of the mosque surrounded by shards of glass and debris.—
Sophia Saifi,
CNN Money,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Spall.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spall. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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