noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A stopwatch with two second hands, each of which may be stopped separately to time the intervals of a race by a sportsperson, or to time more than one sportsperson. attributive
2. 2
   A fraction of a second; hence (figurative, also attributive) a very short time period; an instant, a moment.

   "It's very dangerous, though, when a man thinks for a split second that he understands death."

Synonyms

All synonyms

bat of an eyebitblink of an eyecrackeyeblinkflash

Example

More examples

"The camera has a split-second shutter time lag of just 0.05 s."

Etymology

From split (adjective) + second (noun), from split second(s) hands: see sense 1.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.