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rift

[rift]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

an opening made by splitting, cleaving, etc.; fissure; cleft; chink.

an open space, as in a forest or cloud mass, or a clear interval.

a break in friendly relations: a rift between two people; a rift between two nations.

a difference in opinion, belief, or interest that causes such a break in friendly relations.

Geology.

a fault.

a graben of regional extent.

EXPAND

the plane or direction along which a log or mass of granite can most easily be split.

wood or a piece of wood that has been split radially from a log.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to burst open; split.

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Rift is always a great word to know.

So is leaching. Does it mean:

to dissolve out soluble constituents from ashes and soil by percolation

thin, distinctive stratum useful for stratigraphic correlation

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Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Old Norse ript breaking of an agreement (compare Danish, Norwegian rift cleavage), derivative of rīfa to tear (cognate with rive)

Related forms

rift·less, adjective

un·rift·ed, adjective

Can be confused: riff, rift.

Synonyms
3. breach, rupture, estrangement, falling-out.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To rift

Example Sentences

Yet they also opened a racially tinged rift between sentences for trafficking different types of cocaine.

It has erupted from three main areas: its summit and two rift zones.

Ten million years from now the entire rift may be submerged.

EXPAND

Yet they also opened a racially tinged rift between sentences for trafficking different types of cocaine.

It has erupted from three main areas: its summit and two rift zones.

Ten million years from now the entire rift may be submerged.

The small lake sits in the slightly elongate rift area where the eruption occurred.

The crisis has caused a rift in the hitherto friendly relations between the two countries.

After independence ethnic tensions increased, deepened by the rift between the poor north and the more prosperous south.

As the two sides of a rift valley diverge, the valley eventually falls below sea level and floods.

High on the agenda: repairing the rift between rich and poor countries over farm subsidies.

About half of them have stayed in the summit, and the other half have moved about equally into either rift zone.

But they are big obstacles to healing the continent's historic east-west rift.

The resulting reduction in pressure in the rift allows magma to be forced upward by the weight of the overlying crust and mantle.

Two trends show the increasing rift between companies and the tax authorities.

Nothing much different than what's found at the bottom of our oceans near the rift of continental plates.

But behind the scenes a rift is opening up in her coalition.

Scott was concerned that leaving staff members out would cause a rift between the two groups.

The volcano also felt a moderate earthquake this week that effected some of the deformation along the middle east rift zone.

And there'd been such damage and such rift and such loss of funds and trust and so forth.

And by dividing the world into developed and developing countries, it has deepened a rift that is proving hard to close.

As magma wells up from the rift between the plates, it cools to form ridges.

Minerva is supposed to repair a rift between the military and the academy.

European leaders are no less alarmed at the dangers of a profound and persistent rift.

And the ethnic and political rumbling along the rift won't likely stop with a mere presidential poll.

Intraplate seismic activity is often connected to developing rift systems of uprising hot plumes of material in the mantle.

Apple's clip also illustrates the rift between letterpress's origins and the current impression of what it should.

Indeed this rift almost certainly lies behind his decision to pull out of the race.

Essentially, the current rift is not between socialists and capitalists.

But there are warnings signs too, and none bigger than the party's growing rift with the public on the issue of crime.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

rift¹ (rɪft)

—n
1.	a gap or space made by cleaving or splitting; fissure
2.	geology a long narrow zone of faulting resulting from tensional stress in the earth's crust
3.	a gap between two cloud masses; break or chink: he saw the sun through a rift in the clouds
4.	a break in friendly relations between people, nations, etc

—vb
5.	to burst or cause to burst open; split

[C13: from Old Norse; related to Danish rift cleft, Icelandic ript breach of contract]

rift² (rɪft)

—n
1.	a shallow or rocky part in a stream
2.	the backwash from a wave that has just broken

[C14: from Old Norse rypta; related to Icelandic ropa to belch]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

rift

c.1300, from a Scand. source (cf. Dan., Norw. rift "a cleft," O.Icel. ript (pronounced "rift") "breach;" related to O.N. ripa "to break a contract" (see riven).

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

rift (rĭft) Pronunciation Key

A continental rift.
A narrow break, crack, or other opening in a rock, usually made by cracking or splitting.

Slang Dictionary

riffed definition

mod.
alcohol or drug intoxicated. : I can't keep getting riffed every night like this.
mod.
and rift. fired; released from employment. (From rif,“reduction in force.” A dismissal not for cause, but simply to reduce the number of workers.) : Most of the sales force was rift last week.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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