Rift

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Rift, p. p. 

 p. p. of Rive.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

Rift, n. [Dan. rift, fr. rieve to rend. See Rive.].

•  An opening made by riving or splitting; a cleft; a fissure.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  A shallow place in a stream; a ford.  [1913 Webster]

Rift, v. t. 

 To cleave; to rive; to split; as, to rift an oak or a rock; to rift the clouds.  Longfellow.  [1913 Webster]
"To dwell these rifted rocks between."  [1913 Webster]

Rift, v. i. 

•  To burst open; to split.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "Timber . . . not apt to rif with ordnance."  [1913 Webster]
•  To belch.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Rift, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a crack or split in an object. b an opening in a cloud etc.
2 a cleft or fissure in earth or rock.
3 a disagreement; a breach in friendly relations.
--v.tr. tear or burst apart.

Idiom

rift-valley a steep-sided valley formed by subsidence of the earth's crust between nearly parallel faults.

Derivative

riftless adj. rifty adj.

Etymology

ME, of Scand. orig.

THESAURUS

Rift

abysm, abyss, alienation, arroyo, birthmark, blackhead, bleb, blemish, blister, box canyon, breach, breach of friendship, break, breakage, broach, bug, bulla, burst, canyon, catch, cavity, chap, chasm, check, chimney, chink, chinky, chip, cicatrix, cleavage, cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, cloven, col, comedo, conflict, coulee, couloir, crack, cracked, cranny, crater, craze, crevasse, crevice, cut, cut open, cwm, defacement, defect, defection, deficiency, defile, deformation, deformity, dehiscent, dell, difference, dike, disaffection, disagreement, disfavor, disfiguration, disfigurement, dispart, disruption, distance, distortion, disunion, disunity, ditch, divaricate, divergence, divide, dividedness, division, donga, draw, drawback, estrangement, excavation, failing, failure, falling-out, fault, faute, fissure, fissured, fissury, flaw, flume, fly open, foible, fracture, frailty, freckle, furrow, gap, gape, gaping, gappy, gash, gorge, groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hemangioma, hiatus, hickey, hole, imperfection, inadequacy, incise, incision, infirmity, interruption, interval, joint, keloid, kink, kloof, lay open, leak, lentigo, little problem, milium, moat, mole, needle scar, nevus, notch, nullah, ope, open, open rupture, open up, opening, part, pass, passage, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, problem, pustule, ravine, recall of ambassadors, rent, rime, rimose, rimulose, rip, rive, rupture, scab, scale, scar, schism, scissure, scratch, seam, sebaceous cyst, separate, separation, shortcoming, slash, slice, slit, slot, snag, something missing, splinter, split, spread, spread out, spring open, strawberry mark, sty, swing open, taint, tap, tear, tear open, throw open, track, trench, twist, valley, verruca, vesicle, void, vulnerable place, wadi, wale, warp, wart, weak link, weak point, weakness, weal, welt, wen, whitehead

ROGET THESAURUS

Rift

Disjunction

N disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly, disjunction, disconnection, disunity, disunion, disassociation, disengagement, discontinuity, abjunction, cataclasm, inconnection, abstraction, abstractedness, isolation, insularity, insulation, oasis, island, separateness, severalty, disjecta membra, dispersion, apportionment, separation, parting, circumcision, detachment, segregation, divorce, sejunction, seposition, diduction, diremption, discerption, elision, caesura, break, fracture, division, subdivision, rupture, compartition, dismemberment, dislocation, luxation, severance, disseverance, scission, rescission, abscission, laceration, dilaceration, disruption, abruption, avulsion, divulsion, section, resection, cleavage, fission, partibility, separability, fissure, breach, rent, split, rift, crack, slit, incision, dissection anatomy, decomposition, cutting instrument, buzzsaw, circular saw, rip saw, separatist, disjoined, discontinuous, multipartite, abstract, disjunctive, secant, isolated, insular, separate, disparate, discrete, apart, asunder, far between, loose, free, unattached, unannexed, unassociated, unconnected, distinct, adrift, straggling, rift, reft, scissile, divisible, discerptible, partible, separable, separately, one by one, severally, apart, adrift, asunder, in twain, in the abstract, abstractedly.

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.