Link Centre Dictionary

rift

UK/ɹɪft/ US/ˈrɪft/ fairly common

noun

1.

a gap between cloud masses

  • “the sun shone through a rift in the clouds”
2.
3.

a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

  • “they hoped to avoid a break in relations”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English rift, of North Germanic origin; akin to Danish rift, Norwegian Bokmål rift (“breach”), Old Norse rífa (“to tear”). More at rive.

Phrases

  • rift saw
  • rift valley
  • rift zone

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.