sliver

1 of 2

noun

sliv·​er ˈsli-vər 

 sense 2 is usually  ˈslī-

1

a

: a long slender piece cut or torn off : splinter

b

: a small and narrow portion

a sliver of land

c

: particle, scrap

not a sliver of evidence

2

: an untwisted strand or rope of textile fiber produced by a carding or combing machine and ready for drawing, roving, or spinning

sliver

2 of 2

verb

sliv·​er ˈsli-vər 

slivered; slivering ˈsli-və-riŋ 

ˈsliv-riŋ

transitive verb

: to cut into slivers : splinter

intransitive verb

: to become split into slivers

Synonyms

Noun

• chip
• flake
• spall
• splint
• splinter

Verb

• slice
• splinter

Examples of sliver in a Sentence

Noun

I got a sliver of wood stuck in my finger.

Verb

carefully slivered the rattan stems into strips for basketry

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Ward shortened his drop and threw a strike in the small sliver of space just before the hash mark. —Ted Nguyen, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025

In just about every single episode of CSI, techs wearing no protective equipment whatsoever stand in rooms lit like dive bars, feeding slivers of human tissue into machines that whir briefly and spit out a neat list of every foreign substance in the body. —Samuel Ashworth, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2025

Verb

After temporarily pulling the menu item from roughly a fifth of its U.S. restaurants, the company said Sunday that the burger will return to affected locations, sans slivered onions. —Amelia Lucas, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2024

McDonald’s said Friday that slivered onions from the Colorado Springs facility were distributed to approximately 900 of its restaurants, including some in transportation hubs like airports. —Sarah Parvini, Fortune, 28 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English slivere, from sliven to slice off, from Old English -slīfan; akin to Old English -slǣfan to cut

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1605, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Rhymes for sliver

• giver
• liver
• livre
• quiver
• river
• shiver
• caregiver
• deliver
• downriver
• lawgiver
• upriver

Kids Definition

sliver

1 of 2 noun

sliv·​er ˈsliv-ər 

1

: a long slender piece cut or torn off : splinter

2

: a small and narrow portion

a sliver of pie

sliver

2 of 2 verb

slivered; slivering

ˈsliv-(ə-)riŋ

: to cut or form into slivers : splinter