noun | verb
piecepiece1 /pis/ ●●● S1 W1 noun [countable] 1
AMOUNT an amount that has been cut or broken from something, or one of the amounts that something has been cut or broken into: piece of I had a piece of pizza for lunch. Where did this piece of glass come from? The vase has a piece broken off of it.cut/divide/chop etc. something into pieces She cut the cake into eight equal pieces.tear/smash/hack etc. something to pieces The ship was smashed to pieces on the rocks. The lamp lay in pieces on the floor (=in small parts).THESAURUSscrap – 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.2SINGLE ITEM a single thing of a particular type: a piece of something Which piece of luggage is yours? Can I borrow a piece of paper? That’s a beautiful piece of furniture. She gave him a 100-piece tool set (=with 100 tools in the set).3CONNECTED PART one of several parts that something is made of: Some of the jigsaw pieces are missing. The cars were shipped in pieces and then reassembled (=separated into pieces). The fireplace was carefully dismantled piece by piece (=one part at a time).► see thesaurus at part14SMALL AMOUNT a piece of something [usually singular] an amount of something that you do, say, hear, experience, etc.: The report is an excellent piece of work.a piece of advice/information/news etc. Let me give you a piece of advice.a piece of luck/good fortune Then we had an unexpected piece of luck.5a piece of land/property an area of land: There’s a fabulous piece of beach-front property for sale.6tear/rip/hack etc. something to pieces to damage something very severely so that it is in many parts: The lions quickly tore the antelope to pieces.7cut/rip/tear etc. somebody to pieces to criticize someone or someone's ideas very severely: The president’s plan has been ripped to pieces by the press.8(all) in one piece not damaged or injured: Somehow we made it to Tibet and back in one piece.9give somebody a piece of your mind informal to tell someone that you are very angry with him or her: I was so mad that I called back and gave her a piece of my mind.10be a piece of cake informal to be very easy to do: Creating graphs is a piece of cake on the computer.11go to pieces to be so upset or nervous that you cannot think or behave normally12SHARE a piece of something a part or share of something: They gave the police department a piece of the profit.a piece of the action (=a share of the profits from a business activity, especially an illegal one)13MONEY a)a coin of a particular value: 50-cent/100-yen/two-euro etc. piece What can I buy with a 50-cent piece? b)old use a coin14ART/MUSIC ETC. eng. lang. arts something that has been produced by an artist, musician, or writer: When was this piece written?a piece of music/art/writing etc. One of the pieces of sculpture is valued at $12,000.15be a piece of junk spoken an impolite way of saying that something is of very low quality: This printer’s a piece of junk!16somebody’s a (real) piece of work spoken humorous used to say that someone behaves in unusual or strange ways, especially when this is annoying or difficult to deal with17IN A NEWSPAPER eng. lang. arts a short written article in a newspaper, magazine, or television program: “The Times” did a nice piece on illegal gambling.18IN GAMES (also game piece) a small object or figure used in playing games such as chess19GUN slang a small gun20DISTANCE a piece old-fashioned a short distance away: The store is down the road a piece.[Origin: 1100–1200 Old French, Vulgar Latin pettia] → see also fall to pieces at fall1 (12), museum piece, pick up the pieces (of something) at pick up (25), set piece, the villain (of the piece) at villain (2) noun | verb
piecepiece2 ●○○ verb piece something ↔ together phrasal verb1to think about all the details you have about a situation in order to understand the whole thing: Investigators are still trying to piece together what caused the fire.2to put all the separate parts of an object into the correct order or position: A team of five pieced together shards of ancient pottery.