Slash vs. Stab — What's the Difference?

To cut or form by cutting with forceful sweeping strokes

To pierce or wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.

To make a gash or gashes in.

To plunge (a pointed weapon or instrument) into something.

To cut a slit or slits in, especially so as to reveal an underlying color

To make a thrusting or poking motion at or into

(Sports) To swing a stick at (an opponent) in ice hockey or lacrosse, in violation of the rules.

To thrust with or as if with a pointed weapon

To criticize sharply

To inflict a wound with or as if with a pointed weapon.

(Sports) To hit or propel (a ball, for instance) forcefully in a straight line.

A thrust with a pointed weapon or instrument.

To reduce or curtail drastically

A wound inflicted with or as if with a pointed weapon.

To make forceful sweeping strokes with a sharp instrument.

A sudden piercing pain.

To cut one's way with such strokes

An attempt; a try

To make drastic reductions in something

An act of stabbing or thrusting with an object.

A forceful sweeping stroke that is made with a sharp instrument.

A wound made by stabbing.

A long cut or other opening made by such a stroke; a gash or slit.

Pain inflicted on a person's feelings.

A decorative slit in a fabric or garment.

(informal) An attempt.

A diagonal mark ( / ) that is used especially to separate alternatives, as in and/or, to represent the word per, as in miles/hour, to separate component parts of a URL, as in whitehouse.gov/kids/patriotism/, and to indicate the ends of verse lines printed continuously, as in Old King Cole / Was a merry old soul. Also called virgule.

Criticism.

Branches and other residue left on a forest floor after the cutting of timber.

(music) A single staccato chord that adds dramatic impact to a composition.

Often slashes Wet or swampy ground overgrown with bushes and trees.

A bacterial culture made by inoculating a solid medium, such as gelatin, with the puncture of a needle or wire.

A genre of fanfic depicting romantic relationships between characters, usually of the same sex, that are not romantically connected in the original work or works upon which the fanfic is based.

The horizontal or vertical stabilizer of an aircraft.

As well as; and. Used as a representation of the virgule (as in restaurant/art gallery or actor/director), often styled with hyphens in print

(industrial relations) establishment

A slashing action or motion, particularly:

(transitive) To pierce or to wound (somebody) with a (usually pointed) tool or weapon, especially a knife or dagger.

A swift, broad, cutting stroke made by an edged weapon or whip.

(transitive) To thrust in a stabbing motion.

(cricket) A wild swinging strike of the bat.

(intransitive) To recklessly hit with the tip of a (usually pointed) object, such as a weapon or finger (often used with at).

A hard swift lateral strike with a hockey or lacrosse stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.

(intransitive) To cause a sharp, painful sensation (often used with at).

Any similar wide striking motion.

To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander.

(figuratively) A sharp reduction.

(transitive) To roughen a brick wall with a pick so as to hold plaster.

A mark made by a slashing motion, particularly:

(transitive) To pierce folded sheets, near their back edges, for the passage of thread or wire.

A cut or laceration, often deep, made by an edged weapon or whip.

To pierce with a pointed weapon; to wound or kill by the thrust of a pointed instrument; as, to stab a man with a dagger; also, to thrust; as, to stab a dagger into a person.

(botany) A deep taper-pointed incision in a plant.

Fig.: To injure secretly or by malicious falsehood or slander; as, to stab a person's reputation.

Something resembling such a mark, particularly:

To give a wound with a pointed weapon; to pierce; to thrust with a pointed weapon.

(fashion) A slit in an outer garment exposing a lining or inner garment, usually of a contrasting color or design; any intentional long vertical cut in a garment. Clearing

To wound or pain, as if with a pointed weapon.

A clearing in a forest, (particularly) those made by logging, fire, or other violent action.

The thrust of a pointed weapon.

The slash mark: the punctuation mark ⟨/⟩, sometimes inclusive of any mark produced by a similar slashing movement of the pen, as the backslash ⟨\⟩.

A wound with a sharp-pointed weapon; as, to fall by the stab of an assassin.

Female genitalia.

Fig.: An injury inflicted covertly or suddenly; as, a stab given to character.

The loose woody debris remaining from a slash, the trimmings left while preparing felled trees for removal.

A sudden sharp feeling;

(fandom slang) Slash fiction.

A thrusting blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument;

A drink of something; a draft.

Informal words for any attempt or effort;

A piss: an act of urination.

Use a knife on;

(US) A swampy area; a swamp.

Stab or pierce;

(Scotland) A large quantity of watery food such as broth.

Poke or thrust abruptly;

(UK) slatch: a deep trough of finely-fractured culm or a circular or elliptical pocket of coal.

To cut or attempt to cut, particularly:

To cut with a swift broad stroke of an edged weapon.

To produce a similar wound with a savage strike of a whip.

(ice hockey) To strike swiftly and laterally with a hockey stick, usually across another player's arms or legs.

(figuratively) To reduce sharply.

(fashion) To create slashes in a garment.

(figuratively) To criticize cuttingly.

To strike violently and randomly, particularly:

(cricket) To swing wildly at the ball.

To move quickly and violently.

To crack a whip with a slashing motion.

To clear land, with violent action such as logging or brushfires or through grazing.

To write slash fiction.

To piss, to urinate.

To work in wet conditions.

Used to note the sound or action of a slash.

(North America) Used to connect two or more identities in a list.

(North America) Used to list alternatives.

To cut by striking violently and at random; to cut in long slits.

To lash; to ply the whip to.

To crack or snap, as a whip.

To strike violently and at random, esp. with an edged instrument; to lay about one indiscriminately with blows; to cut hastily and carelessly.

A long cut; a cut made at random.

A large slit in the material of any garment, made to show the lining through the openings.

Swampy or wet lands overgrown with bushes.

A opening or gap in a forest made by wind, fire, or other destructive agency.

A wound made by cutting;

An open tract of land in a forest that is strewn with debris from logging (or fire or wind)

A punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information

A strong sweeping cut made with a sharp instrument

Cut with sweeping strokes; as with an ax or machete

Beat severely with a whip or rod;

Cut open;

Cut drastically;

Move or stir about violently;