To splice means to join two things together by weaving, binding, or connecting their ends. Sailors splice ropes by unraveling the strands at each end and carefully weaving them together, creating a connection as strong as the original rope. Film editors used to splice strips of film together with tape or cement, cutting out bad takes and arranging scenes in the right order.

The word suggests a careful, skilled joining that creates a permanent, integrated connection. When you tie two ropes together, you can untie them. When you splice them properly, they become essentially one rope. Electricians splice wires by twisting the copper strands together and protecting them with special connectors.

As a noun, a splice is the place where two things have been joined this way.

In biology and genetics, scientists talk about gene splicing, which means cutting and recombining DNA from different sources. This is how researchers create new medicines or study how genes work.

You might also hear someone say they need to splice together different ideas or elements, meaning they're combining separate parts into something unified. The key idea is always joining things in a way that makes them work together as a whole, with the parts truly integrated rather than simply placed side by side.