Definitions

chipping

VERB

knock a piece out of

Synonyms

STRONGEST

chop crack hack nick splinter whack

STRONG

break chisel clip crumble damage flake fragment gash hackle hew incise notch shape shear slash slice sliver snick snip split whittle

WEAK

crack off cut away cut off

Antonyms

STRONGEST

fix mend

STRONG

build combine increase join put together

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Barring the surprise elimination of Uruguay, it was essentially a 72-game exercise in chipping away 16 of the smaller countries to create a knockout competition.

From BBC • Jun. 29, 2026

“When I’m saying diversifying, that is chipping away at it year over year.”

From MarketWatch • Jun. 23, 2026

“If we were gonna start chipping away at all the armor that Lestat had, one of the great repetitive ways of a tour is you just can’t seem to break a ceiling,” Jones said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026

Offshoring has been chipping away at back-office jobs for decades.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

When people began chipping away at the Berlin Wall, more joined in—including the very East German border guards who were supposed to protect it.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau