Word Study
cleft (root: cleave)
CIDE DICTIONARY
cleft, imp. & p. p.
cleft, a.
- Divided; split; partly divided or split. [1913 Webster]
- Incised nearly to the midrib; as, a cleft leaf. [1913 Webster]
cleft, n. [OE. clift; cf. Sw. klyft cave, den, Icel. kluft cleft, Dan. klöft, G. kluft. See Cleave to split and cf. 2d Clift, 1st Clough.].
- A space or opening made by splitting; a crack; a crevice; as, the cleft of a rock. Is. ii. 21. [1913 Webster]
- A piece made by splitting; as, a cleft of wood. [1913 Webster]
- A disease in horses; a crack on the band of the pastern. [1913 Webster]
Syn. -- Crack; crevice; fissure; chink; cranny.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
cleft, adj. split, partly divided.
Idiom
cleft palate a congenital split in the roof of the mouth. in a cleft stick in a difficult position, esp. one allowing neither retreat nor advance.
cleft, n. a split or fissure; a space or division made by cleaving.
Etymology
OE (rel. to CLEAVE(1)): assim. to CLEFT(1)
THESAURUS
cleft
abysm, abyss, alienation, aperture, arroyo, bifurcated, bisected, blaze, box canyon, branched, branching, breach, breach of friendship, break, breakage, broaching, burst, canyon, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chinky, chip, clearing, cleavage, cleuch, clough, clove, cloven, col, coulee, couloir, crack, cracked, cranny, crena, crevasse, crevice, cut, cwm, defile, dehiscent, dell, depression, dichotomous, dike, dimidiate, disaffection, disclosure, disfavor, disruption, disunion, disunity, ditch, divergence, divided, dividedness, division, donga, draw, estrangement, excavation, falling-out, fault, fenestra, fissure, fissured, fissury, fistula, flaw, flume, fontanel, foramen, forked, forking, fracture, furrow, gap, gape, gaping, gappy, gash, gat, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hack, halved, hiatus, hole, hollow, in pieces, in shreds, incision, indentation, inlet, interval, jag, jog, joggle, joint, kerf, kloof, lacerate, lacerated, lacuna, laying open, leak, mangled, moat, mutilated, nick, nock, notch, nullah, open rupture, opening, opening up, orifice, outlet, pass, passage, passageway, pore, quartered, ragged, ramified, ravine, recall of ambassadors, rent, rift, rime, rimose, rimulose, rip, riven, rupture, scale, schism, scissure, score, scotch, seam, separation, severed, shredded, slash, slice, slit, slot, space, splinter, splintered, split, stoma, tattered, tear, throwing open, torn, trench, uncorking, unstopping, valley, void, wadi, yawnROGET THESAURUS
cleft
bisection
N bisection, bipartition, dichotomy, subdichotomy, halving, dimidiation, bifurcation, forking, branching, ramification, divarication, fork, prong, fold, half, moiety, bisected, cloven, cleft, bipartite, biconjugate, bicuspid, bifid, bifurcous, bifurcate, bifurcated, distichous, dichotomous, furcular, semi-, demi-, hemi.Interval
N interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.For further exploring for "cleft" in Webster Dictionary Online
