rift

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Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish/Norwegian rift 'breach', Old Norse rífa 'to tear'. More at rive.

Noun [edit]

rift (plural rifts)

  1. A chasm or fissure.
    My marriage is in trouble, the fight created a rift between us and we can't reconnect.
    The Grand Canyon is a rift in the Earth's surface, but is smaller than some of the undersea ones.
  2. A break in the clouds, fog, mist etc., which allows light through.
    • 1931, William Faulkner, Sanctuary, Vintage 1993, p. 130:
      I have but one rift in the darkness, that is that I have injured no one save myself by my folly, and that the extent of that folly you will never learn.
  3. A shallow place in a stream; a ford.
Translations [edit]
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Verb [edit]

rift (third-person singular simple present rifts, present participle rifting, simple past and past participle rifted)

  1. (intransitive) To form a rift.
  2. (transitive) To cleave; to rive; to split.
    to rift an oak
    • Wordsworth
      To dwell these rifted rocks between.

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Old Norse rypta.

Verb [edit]

rift (third-person singular simple present rifts, present participle rifting, simple past and past participle rifted)

  1. (obsolete except Scotland and northern UK) To belch.

Anagrams [edit]


Scots [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old Norse rypta.

Verb [edit]

tae rift (third-person singular simple present rifts, present participle riftin, simple past riftit, past participle riftit)

  1. to belch, burp