piece together something piece together (something) 1. to combine many small details to give a complete description of something. In this account, Rawson tries to piece together the events leading up to the tragedy. I hadn't told anyone about it, though I suppose someone could have pieced it together. 2. to combine small things to make something bigger. Peters pieced together night courses for five years to earn a college degree. We had to piece the money together to pay off our debts. Etymology: from the idea of combining the parts of something to make a whole |