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Spine vs Splinter - What's the difference?

spine | splinter |

As nouns the difference between spine and splinter

is that spine is proprietress (of a shop, café, or brothel) while splinter is a long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.

As a verb splinter is

to come apart into long sharp fragments.

spine

English

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Noun

(en noun)
  • The series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a person, or from the head to the tail of an animal; backbone, vertebral column.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) , :
  • If you attentively regard almost any quadruped's spine , you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebrae to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls.
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  • Something resembling a backbone, such as a ridge, or a long, central structure from which other structures radiate.
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  • # The narrow, bound edge of a book.
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  • A rigid, pointed surface protuberance or needle-like structure on an animal, shell, or plant.
  • * 1871 , (Charles Darwin), (w) , :
  • The male, as Dr. Gunther informs me, has a cluster of stiff, straight spines , like those of a comb, on the sides of the tail.
  • (figurative) Courage or assertiveness.
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  • Derived terms

    * send shivers down someone's spine * spina bifida * spinal * spinal canal * spinal column * spinal cord * spine board * spineless * spiniferous * spinose * spinous * spiny

    Anagrams

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    splinter

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A long, sharp fragment of material, often wood.
  • A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
  • Synonyms

    * (long sharp fragment) shard, spelk. * (group formed by splitting) faction, splinter group.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To come apart into long sharp fragments.
  • The tall tree splintered during the storm.
  • To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.
  • His third kick splintered the door.
  • * Prescott
  • After splintering their lances, they wheeled about, and abandoned the field to the enemy.
  • (figuratively, of a group) To break, or cause to break, into factions.
  • The government splintered when the coalition members could not agree.
    The unpopular new policies splintered the company.
  • To fasten or confine with splinters, or splints, as a broken limb.
  • (Bishop Wren)