as in slivers
a small flat piece separated from a whole
she got a splinter from the unfinished wall
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Recent Examples of splinters
Leslie Baumann, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2026
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
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
After cutting and trimming any splinters, place the stakes behind the trellis.
—Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Oct. 2025
There’s splinters on the floor.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2025
The group splinters and each one pushes on, praying for another exit.
—Caitlin White, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
Outside of these moments, the audience scatters, the conversation splinters, and the mirage vanishes.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
The score surges and splinters, and the world is askew.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026
Megyn Kelly is continuing her hard-right tack, lashing back at Ben Shapiro and aligning herself with Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon as the MAGA movement dramatically splinters.
—Kimberly Nordyke, HollywoodReporter, 23 Dec. 2025
Rumors are swirling in Kansas political circles that Republican leaders are considering initiating a special session like the one that just concluded in Missouri and produced a new map that splinters Kansas City into three congressional districts.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
Instead of picking a single character to follow for the duration of the film, Cregger splinters the mystery among six people, separated into distinct chapters, beginning with Justine.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 5 Aug. 2025
Noun
The fungus enters the body through small cuts or puncture wounds, often from rose thorns or splinters.
—Leslie Baumann, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2026
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
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
After cutting and trimming any splinters, place the stakes behind the trellis.
—Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Oct. 2025
There’s splinters on the floor.
—Gil Kaufman, Billboard, 9 Oct. 2025
The group splinters and each one pushes on, praying for another exit.
—Caitlin White, Variety, 3 Oct. 2025
Outside of these moments, the audience scatters, the conversation splinters, and the mirage vanishes.
—Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
The score surges and splinters, and the world is askew.
—Sheri Linden, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Verb
Endlessly switching between apps and online platforms splinters our attention and can lead to digital exhaustion, leaving us anxious, apathetic and unfocused.
—Deborah Vankin, Los Angeles Times, 13 Jan. 2026
Megyn Kelly is continuing her hard-right tack, lashing back at Ben Shapiro and aligning herself with Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon as the MAGA movement dramatically splinters.
—Kimberly Nordyke, HollywoodReporter, 23 Dec. 2025
Rumors are swirling in Kansas political circles that Republican leaders are considering initiating a special session like the one that just concluded in Missouri and produced a new map that splinters Kansas City into three congressional districts.
—Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2025
Instead of picking a single character to follow for the duration of the film, Cregger splinters the mystery among six people, separated into distinct chapters, beginning with Justine.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 5 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for splinters
Noun
-
Breezy breakfasts begin with visits to the buffet selection indoors, where plates are adorned with slivers of cold meats, cheeses, and sweet pastries.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Nobody of his generation is more crafty in manipulating the tiniest slivers of space.—
Fred Katz,
New York Times,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.—
Anna Theoktisto,
Southern Living,
21 Dec. 2025
-
Place slices 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.—
Elizabeth Fogarty,
Better Homes & Gardens,
11 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Scant artifacts survived those conditions, and almost all the porcelain recovered from the site consisted of shards.—
Issy Ronald,
CNN Money,
28 Feb. 2026
-
Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until the mixture looks shaggy, with pea-size pieces and a few flatter shards.—
Monti Carlo,
AJC.com,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Consider two investors, one who invests $7,500 at the beginning of the year, and another who chops it up into $288 biweekly investments.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
24 Feb. 2026
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The proposal chops $150 million from the Developmental Disabilities Administration, which battled against the largest budget cut in last year's negotiations.—
JT Moodee Lockman,
CBS News,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Nvidia is the dominant seller of accelerator chips, processors designed to handle the huge amounts of data needed to create artificial intelligence models.—
Bloomberg Wire,
Dallas Morning News,
25 Feb. 2026
-
The results for the November-January period blew past the analyst projections that shape investors’ perceptions, as has been the case since Nvidia’s high-end chips emerged as AI’s best building blocks three years ago.—
Boston Herald Wire Services,
Boston Herald,
25 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
And rather than writing one data dot at a time, the scientists developed a system that splits the laser beam to write many dots simultaneously.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
21 Feb. 2026
-
Today almost half the states in the nation claim it as their official dance – including California, which splits it with Western swing – though there are holdouts like Wisconsin (polka) and Hawaii (hula).—
John Metcalfe,
Mercury News,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
At first, the fossil fragments were misidentified and then lost to the shuffle of international museum collections.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
23 Feb. 2026
-
Mastrovito's Agnus Dei features the Lamb, made of hollow glass and covered in glass fragments, suspended in the air from the cross' upper arm within a hyperboloid covered in gold leaf.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
23 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Splinters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/splinters. Accessed 2 Mar. 2026.
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