split

/splɪt/

split verb: to divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.

Verb

split (third-person singular simple present splits, present participle splitting, simple past and past participle split)

(ergative, transitive) To divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
- He has split his lip.
- a huge vessel of exceeding hard marble split asunder by congealed water1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the...
Synonyms:

cleave
(intransitive) Of something solid, particularly wood, to break along the grain fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
(transitive) To share; to divide.
- We split the money among three people.
- Presently the 57-strong Class 378 fleet is split between the East London line and North London line, with 29 units allocated on the east side.2019 October, “Funding for 20tph East London Line service”, in Modern Railways, page 18
(intransitive, slang, transitive) To leave.
- Let's split this scene and see if we can find a real party.
- Carlo and Carmen Vidal / just had a child / A lovely girl with a crooked smile / Now they gotta split 'cause the Bronx ain't fit / For a kid to grow up in1979, Machine, “There but For the Grace of God Go I”, in Machine
Synonyms:

23 skidoo, beat it, bug off, remove, egress, bugger off, book, bounce, buzz off, chuck
(intransitive) To separate.
- Did you hear Dick and Jane split? They'll probably get a divorce.
Synonyms:

break up, split up
(ambitransitive) To (cause to) break up; to throw into discord.
- Accusations of bribery split the party just before the election.
(intransitive, transitive, acts on a polynomial) To factor into linear factors.
- In the first case X²-2, the minimum polynomial of #92;sqrt 2, splits completely over #92;Q(#92;sqrt 2); in the second case we see that X³-2, the minimum polynomial of 3#92;sqrt 2, does not split completely over #92;Q(3#92;sqrt 2).2007, John M. Howie, Fields and Galois Theory, Springer, page 103
1. (intransitive, transitive, acts on a polynomial, generally) To be expressable as a direct sum of sub-modules, -algebras, etc.
2. (intransitive, transitive, acts on a polynomial, particularly a short exact sequence) To contain an object which may be so expressed.
To be broken; to be dashed to pieces.
- The ship splits on the rock.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
(intransitive) To burst out laughing.
(dated, intransitive, slang) To divulge a secret; to betray confidence; to peach.
- "[…]I split, and tell all […]"1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC
(especially) For both teams involved in a doubleheader to win one game each and lose another.
- Boston split with Philadelphia in a doubleheader, winning the first game 3-1 before losing 2-0 in the nightcap.
(intransitive) To vote for candidates of opposite parties.

Adjective

split (not comparable)

Divided.
- Republicans appear split on the centerpiece of Mr. Obama's economic recovery plan.
- With the descent of the cold war, relations between the two countries (for this is, to all intents and purposes, what they became after the end of the war) were almost completely broken off, with whole families split for the ensuing decades, some for ever.2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian
Having the middle object (group, module, etc.) equal to the direct sum of the others.
Comprising half decaffeinated and half caffeinated espresso.
(usually, sale) Divided so as to be done or executed part at one time or price and part at another time or price.
(historical) Given in sixteenths rather than eighths.
- 10+³⁄₁₆ is a split quotation.
(London) Designating ordinary stock that has been divided into preferred ordinary and deferred ordinary.

Noun

split (plural splits)

A crack or longitudinal fissure.
A breach or separation, as in a political party; a division.
- It destroys the class system and exploitation; it heals the split in man's nature and the crippled, one-sided development of the individual.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in...
A piece that is split off, or made thin, by splitting; a splinter; a fragment.
- The kernels split in shelling, known as splits, form a fifth grade of shelled Virginia peanuts.1929, United States Tariff Commission, Agricultural products and provisions, page 1334
(leather manufacture) One of the sections of a skin made by dividing it into two or more thicknesses.
(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.
A workout routine as seen by its distribution of muscle groups or the extent and manner they are targeted in a microcycle.
(slang) A split-finger fastball.
- He’s got a nasty split.
A result of a first throw that leaves two or more pins standing with one or more pins between them knocked down.
A split shot or split stroke.
A dessert or confection resembling a banana split.
A unit of measure used for champagne or other spirits: 18.75 centiliters or one quarter of a standard 75-centiliter bottle. Commercially comparable to ¹⁄₂₀ (US) gallon, which is ¹⁄₂ of a fifth.
A bottle of wine containing 37.5 centiliters, half the volume of a standard 75-centiliter bottle; a demi.

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The elapsed time at specific intermediate points in a race or speedrun.
- In the 3000 m race, his 800 m split was 1:45.32
A tear resulting from tensile stresses.
A division of a stake happening when two cards of the kind on which the stake is laid are dealt in the same turn.
A recording containing songs by multiple artists; a split single or split album.
(systematics) The division of a single taxon into two or more taxa; as opposed to a lump.
- [I]t would be a rare split in that it would be unlikely to result in an armchair tick for any birders, living or dead.2017 June, Australian Birdlife, Carlton, Victoria, page 76, column 1

Proper noun capitalized: Split

Split

A port city in Croatia.

split meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

split in Hindi

divide along a more or less straight line: चीरना cīrnā
crack, longitudinal fissure: दरार darār
breach, division: दरार darār

split in Marathi

to split or rend forcefully: फाडणे phāḍaṇe

split in Urdu

to split, rend: چیرنا cīrnā
split: جدائی judāī

More languagesFewer languages

split in Bengali: বিচ্ছেদ, ভেদ, ছাড়াছাড়ি, লম্বালম্বি ফাট
split in Telugu: చీలుచు cīlucu, చీల్చు cīlcu
split in Malayalam: വിഗ്രഹിക്കുക vigrahikkuka, പിണങ്ങുക piṇaṅṅuka, പിളർക്കുക piḷaṟkkuka, പിളരുക piḷaruka
split in Kannada: ಸೀಳು sīḷu
split in Punjabi: متھنا mitthṇā
split in Gujarati: ફાંટ phā̃ṭ
split in Odia: ଫାଟିବା phāṭibā
split in Sanskrit: भिनत्ति bhinatti
split in Sinhala: පැළෙනවා pæḷenawā
split in Assamese: ফাল phal
split in Arabic: قَسَمَ qasama, انفصل
split in Malay: belah
split in Indonesian: belah
split in Persian: بشکلیدن beškalidan, چاکیدن, چاکزدن, قسمیدن
split in Vietnamese: chẻ, xẻ, tách
split in Myanmar: ခွဲ hkwai:

Examples of split in a sentence

This system splits water molecules and delivers some of their electrons to other molecules that help build up carbohydrates.2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, archived from the original on 03 Sep 2013:
I had this Palm Springs gig set up for Joey and the bitch split.1980, Paul Schrader, American Gigolo, spoken by Leon (Bill Duke):

All 40 example sentences with split

Synonyms of split

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

manifold

All synonyms and antonyms of split

Forms of split

Verb
third-person singular present	splits
present participle	splitting
past participle	split
past	split
Noun
plural	splits

Past tense of split: split

Plural of split: splits

Origin of split

Attested since about 1567, from Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”) and/or Middle Low German splitten (“to split”), both ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *splittjan, an intensive form of Proto-West Germanic *splītan (“to split”), from Proto-Germanic *splītaną (whence Danish splitte, Low German splieten, German spleißen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pley- (“to split, splice”). Compare Middle English ysplett (“split”, past participle of splatten (“to split”)), Old English speld (“splinter”), Old High German spaltan (“to split”), Middle Irish slis (“splinter”), Lithuanian spaliai (“flax sheaves”), Czech půl (“half”), Old Church Slavonic рас-плитати (ras-plitati, “to cleave, split”).

Borrowed from Serbo-Croatian Splȉt.

Words formed from split

Phrases with split

91 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with split

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about split

What does split mean?: Split means to divide fully or partly along a more or less straight line.
What is split in Hindi?: Split in Hindi is चीरना (cīrnā), दरार (darār). See Split meaning in Hindi.
How do you use split in a sentence?: This system splits water molecules and delivers some of their electrons to other molecules that help build up carbohydrates.
What part of speech is split?: Split can be a verb, an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce split?: Split is pronounced /splɪt/.
What is the past tense of split?: The past tense of split is split.

Words near split in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-split.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-split.wav.

Cite this entry: “split.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/split. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.