Sliver
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To cut or divide into long, thin pieces, or into very small pieces; to cut or rend lengthwise; to slit; as, to sliver wood.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment; a splinter. A strand, or slender roll, of cotton or other fiber in a loose, untwisted state, produced by a carding machine and ready for the roving or slubbing which precedes spinning. Bait made of pieces of small fish. Cf. kibblings. A narrow high-rise apartment building.
Example sentence: I always do a lot of work around characters to make them real people because, oftentimes, they really are a sliver of a person. Even with truly wonderful writers, women characters are there to emote, and they're often incredibly chaste or worthy. Or they're a 'different type of woman', which is the worst.
Splinter
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A long, sharp fragment of material; often wood.A group that formed by splitting off from a larger membership.
Part of speech: verb
Definition: To come apart into long sharp fragments.To cause to break apart into long sharp fragments.To break, or cause to break, into factions.