splice
- 01 C1 Advanced
v.to join two pieces of rope or wire by weaving the ends together.
v.to unite two ropes or cables by interweaving the strands of the ends. Transitive; often implies a permanent and strong connection.
Simple“The sailor showed us how to splice the two ropes together so they wouldn't slip.”
In context“The technician had to splice the damaged fibre-optic cables to restore the internet connection to the building.”
UsageOften used with the particle 'together'.
Antonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
v.to join two pieces of film or tape together to make one long piece.
v.to join two lengths of film, magnetic tape, or digital media by overlapping or butting the ends.
Simple“The editor had to splice several scenes together to finish the movie.”
In context“Before digital editing became standard, filmmakers had to physically cut and splice celluloid strips to create a final cut.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
v.to join different pieces of DNA or RNA together.
v.to remove intron sequences from pre-messenger RNA and join exons together, or to join genetic material from different sources.
Simple“Scientists can splice genes from one plant into another to make it stronger.”
In context“The process of alternative splicing allows a single gene to code for multiple proteins by varying which exons are joined.”
Synonymsrecombine - 04 C2 Proficiency
v.to get married to someone.
v.to unite two people in marriage. Usually used in the passive voice as 'to get spliced'.
Simple“Did you hear that Jim and Sarah finally got spliced last weekend?”
In context“After a decade of dating, the couple decided it was finally time to get spliced in a quiet ceremony by the coast.”
Teacher's tipThis is a humorous, old-fashioned slang term; it is rarely used in formal contexts.
- 05 C1 Advanced
n.the place where two things, like ropes or wires, have been joined together.
n.a physical junction or connection made by splicing ropes, wires, or other materials.
Simple“The electrician checked the splice in the wire to make sure it was safe.”
In context“The structural integrity of the bridge depended on the quality of each cable splice.”
Synonyms
“It argued that the BBC spliced scenes from Trump’s 6 January 2021 speech so that it appeared Trump directly urged his supporters to attack the US Capitol building.”
“Through these spliced timelines, it becomes clear that Sophia, compelled by her supernatural gift, possesses little agency.”
Circa 1525, borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (Modern Dutch splitsen); akin to Middle Dutch splitten (“to split”), German spleißen (“to split, splice”), Spliss (“split ends, hair breakage”), French épisser (also from Dutch). The Dutch word originally referred only to the fraying of the ropes' ends but was then also used for the entire process of fraying and retying; hence the peculiar semantic development from “split” to “join”. The same development occurred in German.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.