rift

English

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪft/
• Rhymes: -ɪft

Etymology 1

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

Noun

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

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Finnish: rako, halkeama, repeämä

Verb

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

From Old Norse rypta.

Verb

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

• frit
• FTIR

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Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse rypta.

Verb

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

1. to belch, burp