► piece an amount that has been cut or broken from something, or one of the amounts that something has been cut or broken into: The vase has a piece broken off of it. The lamp lay in pieces on the floor (=in small parts).
► scrap a small piece of paper, cloth, etc.: He took out the scrap of paper on which he’d written the address.
► strip a long narrow piece of paper, cloth, etc.: She tore a strip off her shirt to make a bandage.
► chip a small piece of wood or stone, especially one that separates accidentally from a larger piece when it is being cut: The pathway was covered with wood chips.
► flake a very thin flat piece of something such as snow or dried food, which breaks easily: The first flakes of snow were beginning to fall.
► fragment a small piece that has broken off something, especially rock, bone, glass, or metal: Fragments of glass from the car crash were still on the street.
► shard a sharp piece of broken glass, metal, or pottery: They found shards of ancient pots buried in the ground.
► chunk a thick piece of something solid that does not have an even shape: The stew was filled with large chunks of chicken.
► lump a small piece of something solid that does not have a definite shape: She put a lump of brown sugar in her coffee.
► block a piece of a hard material such as wood or stone with straight sides: They were using blocks of wood as stools.
► slice a thin flat piece of bread, meat, etc. cut from a larger piece: Would you like a slice of pie?
► crumb a very small piece of bread, cake, etc.: She scattered crumbs for the birds.
► sliver a very small thin piece of something: There was only a sliver of soap left.
► splinter a small sharp thin piece of wood, glass, or metal, especially one that goes into someone’s skin: He got a splinter in his toe from the old wood floor.
a sharp piece of broken glass, metal, etc.: shard of shards of ancient pottery► see thesaurus at piece1