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⇱ PIECE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

Dictionary Definition
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1
: a part of a whole: such as
a
: fragment
pieces of broken glass
b
: any of the individual members comprising a unit β€”often used in combination
a five-piece band
a three-piece suit
c
: portion, allocation
a piece of the jackpot
2
: an object or individual regarded as a unit of a kind or class
a piece of fruit
3
: a usually unspecified distance
down the road a piece
4
: a standard quantity (as of length, weight, or size) in which something is made or sold
5
: a literary, journalistic, artistic, dramatic, or musical composition
6
7
: coin
also : token
8
: a movable object used in playing a board game
specifically : a chessman other than a pawn
9
: opinion, view
spoke his piece
10
a
vulgar : an act of copulation
b
vulgar : the female partner in sexual intercourse
11
: instance, example
silly piece of nonsense
a nice piece of acting

piece

2 of 2

verb

pieced; piecing

transitive verb

1
: to repair, renew, or complete by adding pieces : patch
2
: to join into a whole β€”often used with together
… his new book … has been pieced together from talks β€¦β€”πŸ‘ Image
Merle Miller
piecer noun

Synonyms of piece

Choose the Right Synonym for piece

part, portion, piece, member, division, section, segment, fragment mean something less than the whole.

part is a general term appropriate when indefiniteness is required.

they ran only part of the way

portion implies an assigned or allotted part.

cut the pie into six portions

piece applies to a separate or detached part of a whole.

a puzzle with 500 pieces

member suggests one of the functional units composing a body.

a structural member

division applies to a large or diversified part.

the manufacturing division of the company

section applies to a relatively small or uniform part.

the entertainment section of the newspaper

segment applies to a part separated or marked out by or as if by natural lines of cleavage.

the retired segment of the population

fragment applies to a part produced by or as if by breaking off.

only a fragment of the play still exists

Examples of piece in a Sentence

Noun Divide the pie into six equal pieces. The cheese was cut into small pieces and arranged on a silver platter. You have a piece of lettuce stuck between your teeth. Her broken bicycle lay in pieces by the side of the road. I watched her rip the letter to pieces and throw it away. There are 12 pieces in this stainless steel knife set. a jigsaw puzzle with 500 pieces We're missing one piece of the puzzle. I took apart the engine piece by piece and put it back together again. Verb you might want to piece together a quilt from those odd patches of cloth
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
Buyers could also resell their World Cup tickets on the secondary market, where tickets often sell go more than $1,000 a piece. β€”πŸ‘ Image
Catherine Odom, Miami Herald, 4 Apr. 2026 Just as a good song can have a groovy beat but a predictable melody, so a piece of fiction can work on some levels but not others. β€”πŸ‘ Image
Joshua Rothman, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Verb
Instead, teams relied on trial and error to piece it back together. β€”πŸ‘ Image
Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 1 Apr. 2026 The Herald pieced some of the correspondence together in order to draw as complete a picture as possible of the various cases. β€”πŸ‘ Image
Julie K. Brown, Miami Herald, 21 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for piece

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, of Gaulish origin; akin to Welsh peth thing

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of piece was in the 13th century

Phrases Containing piece

Rhymes for piece

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

β€œPiece.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piece. Accessed 8 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

1
: a part cut, torn, or broken from a thing : fragment
a piece of string
2
: one of a class, group, or set of things
a piece of mail
a three-piece suit
a chess piece
3
: a usually unspecified distance
down the road a piece
4
: a portion marked off
a piece of land
5
: a single item or example
a piece of news
6
: a standard quantity or size in which an article is made or sold
buy lumber by the piece
7
: something made, composed, or written
a piece written for the piano
8
: coin entry 1 sense 1
a 50-cent piece
9
10
: example sense 1
a nice piece of acting

piece

2 of 2 verb
pieced; piecing
1
: to repair, form, or complete by adding pieces
helped to piece a quilt
pieced a jigsaw puzzle
2
: to join into a whole
pieced their stories together
piecer noun

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