as in chip
a small flat piece separated from a whole
she got a splinter from the unfinished wall
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
2
as in to split
to cause (people) to break up into opposing groups
The board splintered as soon as the most contentious issues came up for discussion.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of splinter
Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 5 Apr. 2026
Weeks before King Charles' coronation, The Times reported that Pope Francis, then the leader of the Catholic Church, gave King Charles two splinters of wood believed to be from the True Cross as a personal gift in honor of the coronation.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 2 Apr. 2026
Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 17 Apr. 2026
Trump, meanwhile, has railed against Europe for sitting out the conflict, further splintering transatlantic ties.
—Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 16 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for splinter
Noun
Upon impact, cannonballs would have sent wooden splinters flying like debris from grenades.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 5 Apr. 2026
Weeks before King Charles' coronation, The Times reported that Pope Francis, then the leader of the Catholic Church, gave King Charles two splinters of wood believed to be from the True Cross as a personal gift in honor of the coronation.
—Janine Henni, PEOPLE, 2 Apr. 2026
Verb
Some conservatives have split over the future of the movement after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and the circumstances of his death itself became the source of a new round of conspiracy theories that have splintered some of his former followers.
—Arizona Republic, AZCentral.com, 17 Apr. 2026
Trump, meanwhile, has railed against Europe for sitting out the conflict, further splintering transatlantic ties.
—Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, semafor.com, 16 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for splinter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for splinter
Noun
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The software space Klement goes on to argue that the AI boom will continue but sees higher energy and chip prices eventually catching up with hyperscalers.—
Michael Considine,
CNBC,
2 May 2026
-
Cleveland appeared to pull away for good with an 11-point lead with less than five minutes left, only to see Toronto chip away at the deficit.—
Dan Santaromita,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
Verb
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Cut from the trompo, the marinated pork shoulder is sliced onto a corn tortilla, then topped with onions, cilantro and roasted pineapple.—
Eva Remijan-Toba,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The tomatoes and onions were thinly sliced.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Downriver from the Shoshone Falls are the Pillar Falls, a low waterfall split by rock pillars.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
26 Apr. 2026
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Wood’s colleague and head winemaker Kurtis Ogasawara tells Robb Report this wine requires a couple of tweaks in the vineyard and winery that begin with walking the block prior to harvest and splitting it up into smaller sections based on flavor development.—
Mike DeSimone,
Robb Report,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
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That’s in large part because many of the Democrats have only slivers of daylight between their policies, and ditto for the two Republicans.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
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Two children watch him from behind while, in one sliver of the background on the top left side of the picture, a blazing red sunset overruns the sky.—
Daniel Cassady,
ARTnews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Grind the orange peels or very finely chop them up.—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Finely chop them and use them alongside the leaves.—
Karla Walsh,
Better Homes & Gardens,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Every single section can be divided into a packing cube.—
Samantha Leal,
Travel + Leisure,
29 Apr. 2026
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The case has also divided the agriculture industry.—
Christiana Freitag,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Within the first four months of this year, the figures are already approaching the record annual highs set across 2025, during which Romania reported nine airspace violations, the discovery of fragments 16 times, 21 air policing missions and 28 attacks on Ukrainian targets close to Romania.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
2 May 2026
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During a season-ending arthroscopic surgery late last season, a physician removed a cartilage fragment within his left knee and performed a mosaicplasty procedure to repair the trochlear joint surface.—
Josh Robbins,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
Noun
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The 39-year-old artist was finally gaining recognition abroad for his contorted, geometric sculptures made of thousands of hand-cut mirror shards reaching as high as 27 feet.—
Devorah Lauter,
ARTnews.com,
28 Apr. 2026
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Yes, people still get ripped out of a hole in the fuselage like always, but not until after they’ve been obliterated by flying snack carts and diced apart by shards of broken glass.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Splinter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splinter. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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