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split

verb · adjective · noun

Simple meaning

To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

split
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈsplɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitiveergativeof something solid

    To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

  2. intransitiveof something solidparticularly wood

    To break along the grain fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

  3. Separate into parts or portions

  4. Separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument

  5. ambitransitive

    To (cause to) break up; to throw into discord.

  6. transitive

    To share; to divide.

adjective

  1. of coffee

    Comprising half decaffeinated and half caffeinated espresso.

noun

  1. A piece that is split off, or made thin, by splitting; a splinter; a fragment.

  2. A breach or separation, as in a political party; a division.

  3. (gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, usually in the phrase "to do the splits") A maneuver of spreading or sliding the feet apart until the legs are flat on the floor 180 degrees apart, either sideways to the body or with one leg in front and one behind, thus lowering the body completely to the floor in an upright position.

  4. A bottle of wine containing 37.5 centiliters, half the volume of a standard 75-centiliter bottle; a demi.

  5. A port city in Croatia.

  6. A crack or longitudinal fissure.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (transitive, ergative, of something solid) To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

Used this way, split is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

split secondsplit apart

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • splitternounInflected form

    A worker who splits fish and removes the backbone.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • split downnounCompound term

    A decrease in the number of outstanding shares of a corporation without changing the shareholders' equity.

  • split-half correlationnounCompound term

    A correlation coefficient calculated between scores on two halves of a test.

  • split infinitivenounCompound term

    An infinitive with an adverb between `to' and the verb (e.g., `to boldly go').

  • split-peanounCompound term

    Dried hulled pea.

  • split-pea soupnounCompound term

    Made of stock and split peas with onions carrots and celery.

  • split personalitynounCompound term

    A relatively rare dissociative disorder in which the usual integrity of the personality breaks down and two or more independent personalities emerge.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: to divide fully or partly along a more

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.