All these words mean openings or separations of parts by edged or pointed instruments. A cut may be of any size and may be produced by any kind of instrument, intended for cutting or not. A bulldozer may produce a cut in a mound; the edge of a piece of paper may produce a cut on the finger. An incision is a cut made for the purpose of gaining entry. The word is mostly used in surgery: an abdominal incision to expose an inflamed appendix. A gash is a long and broad cut , usually accidentally produced: Flying windscreen glass produced a gash on the face of a witness to the level-crossing accident. A slash is a long, often deep cut , usually administered with intent to injure with some sharp instrument like a sword or a knife, and is produced by a long, swinging motion. A slit is a long, thin cut or incision . Some surgical incisions are mere slits ; a letter-opener produces a slit in an envelope.

Gash often suggests a jagged, ugly wound, whereas slash stresses the length and depth of the wound, which may have been cleanly made; slit describes a more precisely made and usually narrower cut .

• The gash on his leg from the barbed wire took thirteen stitches to close; the slash from the sabre extended from his shoulder to his forearm; The slit in his throat enabled the surgeon to insert a tube to assist his breathing.