slash

UK: /ˈslæʃ/ US: /slæʃ/ ,(slash)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

slash¹ /slæʃ/   v. 

1. to cut with a violent sweeping stroke, as with a knife or sword: [~ + object]
   She had slashed her wrists.
   [no object]
   to slash at the weeds with a sickle.
2. to cut or reduce:
   [~ + object] to slash salaries.

n. [countable]

3. a sweeping stroke, as with a knife or pen.
4. Pathology a cut or mark made with such a stroke.
5. virgule.
6. a reduction:
   a slash in prices.
7. Clothing a decorative slit in a garment showing an underlying fabric.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

slash¹  (slash), v.t. 

1. to cut with a violent sweeping stroke or by striking violently and at random, as with a knife or sword.
2. to lash;
   whip.
3. to cut, reduce, or alter:
   The editors slashed the story to half its length.
4. to make slits in (a garment) to show an underlying fabric.
5. to criticize, censure, or attack in a savage or cutting manner.

v.i. 

6. to lay about one with sharp, sweeping strokes;
   make one's way by cutting.
7. to make a sweeping, cutting stroke.

n. 

8. a sweeping stroke, as with a knife, sword, or pen.
9. Pathology a cut, wound, or mark made with such a stroke.
10. a curtailment, reduction, or alteration:
    a drastic slash of prices.
11. a decorative slit in a garment showing an underlying fabric.
12. Printing virgule.
13. Ecology (in forest land)
    • an open area strewn with debris of trees from felling or from wind or fire.
    • the debris itself.

• ?
• Middle English slaschen 1350–1400

Synonyms

• 3. abridge, abbreviate.

slash²  (slash), n. 

1. Ecology Often, slashes. a tract of wet or swampy ground overgrown with bushes or trees.

• origin, originally uncertain 1645–55, American.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

slash / slæʃ/ verb (transitive)

1. to cut or lay about (a person or thing) with sharp sweeping strokes, as with a sword, knife, etc
2. to lash with a whip
3. to make large gashes in: to slash tyres
4. to reduce (prices, etc) drastically
5. to criticize harshly
6. to slit (the outer fabric of a garment) so that the lining material is revealed
7. to clear (scrub or undergrowth) by cutting

noun

1. a sharp, sweeping stroke, as with a sword or whip
2. a cut or rent made by such a stroke
3. a decorative slit in a garment revealing the lining material
4. littered wood chips and broken branches that remain after trees have been cut down
5. Also called: diagonal, forward slash, separatrix, shilling mark, solidus, stroke, virgule a short oblique stroke used in text to separate items of information, such as days, months, and years in dates (18/7/80), alternative words (and/or), numerator from denominator in fractions (55/103), etc
6. the act of urinating (esp in the phrase have a slash)

Etymology: 14th Century slaschen, perhaps from Old French esclachier to break