- 1[intransitive, transitive] (of wood, glass, stone, etc.) to break, or to make something break, into small, thin, sharp pieces synonym shatter The mirror cracked but did not splinter. The vase splintered into a thousand pieces. splinter something The impact splintered the wood.
- 2[intransitive] (of a group of people) to divide into smaller groups that are no longer connected; to separate from a larger group The party began to splinter. splinter (off) (from something) Several firms have splintered off from the original company.
splinter
verbNAmE//ˈsplɪntər//
Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they splinter he / she / it splinters
past simple splintered
-ing form splintering
Check pronunciation: splinter