📒 to divide, or to make something divide, into two or more parts
- split something He was a member of the team that split the atom in 1932.
- Split the coconut in half.
- split something into something She split the class into groups of four.
📒 to divide something into two or more parts and share it between different people, activities, etc.
- split something with somebody She split the money she won with her brother.
- split something The two men agreed to split the proceeds.
- We share a house and split all the bills.
📒 to divide, or to make a group of people divide, into smaller groups that have very different opinions
- split on/over something The committee split over government subsidies.
- split something His candidacy split the Republican vote.
- split from something The sect split from the Mormon church more than a hundred years ago.
📒 to tear, or to make something tear, along a straight line
- Her dress had split along the seam.
- split something Don't tell me you've split another pair of pants!
- split open The cushion split open and sent feathers everywhere.
📒 to cut somebody’s skin and make it bleed
- split something open She split her head open on the cupboard door.
- She fell downstairs and split her head open.
- split something How did you split your lip?
📒 to leave somebody and stop having a relationship with them
- split (with somebody) The singer split with his wife last June.
- split (from somebody) She intends to split from the band at the end of the tour.
📒 to leave a place quickly
📒 (when discussing a price, etc.) to agree on an amount that is at an equal distance between the two amounts that have been suggested
- I offered €200 but he wanted €300. In the end, we split the difference and I paid him €250.
- (figurative) I wanted to leave early and Ian wanted to leave late, so we split the difference and left at noon.
📒 to divide something into two equal parts; to divide into two equal parts
- The country was split down the middle over the strike (= half supported it, half did not).
- Divide the cake down the middle.
- It would seem the community has divided down the middle, with some favouring expansion and some dead set against it.
📒 to pay too much attention in an argument to differences that are very small and not important
📒 to place an adverb between ‘to’ and the infinitive of a verb, for example to say ‘to strongly deny the report’. Some people consider this to be bad English style.
📒 to laugh a lot at somebody/something
📒 to vote for candidates from more than one party