piece

noun

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\ ˈpēs

Definition of piece

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a part of a whole: such as

a : fragment pieces of broken glass

b : any of the individual members comprising a unit —often used in combination a five-piece banda three-piece suit

c : portion, allocation a piece of the jackpot

2 : an object or individual regarded as a unit of a kind or class a piece of fruit

3 : a usually unspecified distance down the road a piece

4 : a standard quantity (as of length, weight, or size) in which something is made or sold

5 : a literary, journalistic, artistic, dramatic, or musical composition

6 : firearm

7 : coin also : token

8 : a movable object used in playing a board game specifically : a chessman other than a pawn

9 : opinion, view spoke his piece

10a vulgar : an act of copulation

b vulgar : the female partner in sexual intercourse

11 : instance, example silly piece of nonsense a nice piece of acting

of a piece

: alike, consistent

piece of one's mind

: a severe scolding : tongue-lashing

piece of the action

: a share in activity or profit

to pieces

1 : without reserve or restraint : completely

2 : into fragments also : into component parts

3 : out of control went to pieces from shock

piece

verb

pieced; piecing

Definition of piece (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to repair, renew, or complete by adding pieces : patch

2 : to join into a whole —often used with together his new book … has been pieced together from talks— Merle Miller

Other Words from piece Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Phrases Containing piece Learn More About piece

Choose the Right Synonym for piece

Noun

part, portion, piece, member, division, section, segment, fragment mean something less than the whole. part is a general term appropriate when indefiniteness is required. they ran only part of the way portion implies an assigned or allotted part. cut the pie into six portions piece applies to a separate or detached part of a whole. a puzzle with 500 pieces member suggests one of the functional units composing a body. a structural member division applies to a large or diversified part. the manufacturing division of the company section applies to a relatively small or uniform part. the entertainment section of the newspaper segment applies to a part separated or marked out by or as if by natural lines of cleavage. the retired segment of the population fragment applies to a part produced by or as if by breaking off. only a fragment of the play still exists

Examples of piece in a Sentence

Noun Divide the pie into six equal pieces. The cheese was cut into small pieces and arranged on a silver platter. You have a piece of lettuce stuck between your teeth. Her broken bicycle lay in pieces by the side of the road. I watched her rip the letter to pieces and throw it away. There are 12 pieces in this stainless steel knife set. a jigsaw puzzle with 500 pieces We're missing one piece of the puzzle. I took apart the engine piece by piece and put it back together again. Verb you might want to piece together a quilt from those odd patches of cloth See More

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Mazzoli created a lush score that was alternately sweeping or intimate, sensuous or mystical, yet with a distinctive sound that was her own weaving a thread through the piece. — Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati.com, 19 July 2017 This is why the war stories of Tom Clancy are such convincing and moving pieces of fiction. — Janine Barchas, Washington Post, 18 July 2017 Saturday evening, the British Broadcasting Corporation posted a piece about the ancient cypress forest discovered sixty feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, attracting the international attention. — Ben Raines, AL.com, 17 July 2017 After cutting your lemon (or lime) in half, cut a small piece of skin off of the other side. — Carly Breit, Country Living, 14 July 2017 The public offers a piece of its mind Mic's Celeste Katz discloses that Trump's controversial voter fraud panel won't let the public speak at its first meeting on July 19 but did solicit emails. — The Hive, 14 July 2017 Alan Jacobs, a professor at Baylor University, has written eloquently about that last piece. — Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 14 July 2017 For those not in the know, Polar Pizza involves a double fudge brownie crust and mint chocolate chip ice cream topped with Oreo cookie pieces. — Cole Kazdin, Los Angeles Magazine, 14 July 2017 His beautiful portrait of Ken Moody, one of an edition of ten, was on sale for £25,000 ($31,650), about five times the price of one of Ms Yass’s pieces. — The Economist, 13 July 2017 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Since the 2017 arrests, court documents and hearings have helped piece together more of the Grinstead tragedy and its bizarre twists, including confessions from two former friends who now blame each other. — Alexis Stevens, ajc, 6 May 2022 This can provide analysts with the data necessary to piece together an accurate timeline of events or substantiate claims made by both Russians and Ukrainians. — NBC News, 3 May 2022 Investigators are still working to piece together details of the crash and continue to ask anyone with information to contact Officer Christopher Lamarre or Det. — Jesse Leavenworth, Hartford Courant, 29 Apr. 2022 Parkinson will descend into Uganda’s grand Albertine Rift Valley in June in an ongoing effort to help piece together the story of human evolution. — San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Apr. 2022 Carringer said police will use the video evidence to piece together a timeline of the incident. — Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2022 The tower will contribute data that can help piece together the stories of birds that make their way from one continent to another, year after year. — Morgan Greene, chicagotribune.com, 13 Jan. 2022 This discovery could help piece together the evolutionary timeline of sauropodomorphs, a clade of long-necked, herbivorous dinosaurs that includes M. patagonicus, according to the press release. — Rasha Aridi, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021 Investigators are reviewing security footage and traffic cameras for any information to help piece together the quadruple homicide case. — Washington Post, 15 Sep. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'piece.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.