to slice into
- phrasal verb
- /slaɪs ˈɪntu/
- I glanced back toward the first platform, and she dove and sliced into the water.
- sliced into strips
- sliced into rings
- sliced into wedges
Examples
-
A sheet of silver sliced into the sea like javelins thrown by angry gods.
Fiction book (1990) -
As the boat glided smoothly across the lake, it slice into the calm water, creating gentle ripples.
-
Now let's let's switch this up so that, you know, you can slice into this thing.
-
As she sliced into the fragrant brown earth, she wondered.
Fiction book (1993) -
Two minutes after it had sliced into the atmosphere, Kali re-entered space.
Fiction book (1992) -
Thin white beams of moonlight had sliced into her room and fallen upon the locket, reflecting the light with brilliant, prismlike shards.
Fiction book (1992) -
The chef will slice into the roast beef to prepare it for serving.
-
The knife slice into the ripe tomato with ease, making perfect slices for the salad.
Synonyms
To make a long narrow cut in something
To make something into smaller pieces using a knife or tool
To go straight across a place, for example through land or a crowd
Cut or move quickly and smoothly through air and water
To cut across a place in a straight line and divide it
To move quickly and smoothly through water or snow
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'slice' (to cut into thin pieces) combined with 'into' (movement into something) yields the straightforward sense of cutting/moving into something. This verb + preposition pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically analogous (e.g., 'cut into'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Slice into comes from the image of cutting or going cleanly into something: a knife slice goes into a tomato, or a diver slices into the water with a smooth, sharp motion. So, the phrase now means 'to move quickly or forcefully into something', and it can also mean words or actions that 'hurt someone deeply'.