A cleft in a rock or in the ground is a narrow opening in it.
...a narrow cleft in the rocks too small for humans to enter. [+ in]
Synonyms: opening, break, crack, gap More Synonyms of cleft
2. countable noun
A cleft in someone's chin is a line down the middle of it.
3. adjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
If someone has a cleft chin, they have a cleft in their chin.
Synonyms: split, separated, torn, rent More Synonyms of cleft
4.
See in a cleft stick
5.
Cleft is a past participle of cleave.
cleft in British English
(klɛft)
verb
1. the past tense and a past participle of cleave1
noun
2.
a fissure or crevice
3.
an indentation or split in something, such as the chin, palate, etc
adjective
4.
split; divided
5.
(of leaves) having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the midrib
Word origin
Old English geclyft (n); related to Old High German kluft tongs, German Kluft gap, fissure; see cleave1
cleft in American English1
(klɛft)
noun
1.
an opening made by or as by cleaving; crack; crevice
2.
a hollow between two parts
Word origin
ME clift < OE *clyft < cleofan: see cleave1
cleft in American English2
(klɛft)
verb intransitive
1. alt. pt. & pp. of
cleave1
verb transitive
2. alt. pt. & pp. of
cleave1
3.
to insert (a scion) into the stock of a plant
adjective
4.
split; divided
5. Botany
divided by one or more narrow spaces extending more than halfway to the midrib
said of leaves, as an oak leaf
More idioms containing
cleft
in a cleft stick
Examples of 'cleft' in a sentence
cleft
All in all, something of a cleft stick.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
First, my brother has a cleft chin and neither of my parents has.
The Sun (2008)
He was born with a facial cleft that meant his eyes were nearly 2in further apart than they should have been and he had no real nose.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
All related terms of 'cleft'
cleave
To cleave something means to split or divide it into two separate parts, often violently.
cleft lip
a congenital cleft or fissure in the midline of the upper lip , often occurring with cleft palate
gill cleft
→ visceral cleft
cleft palate
If someone has a cleft palate , they were born with a narrow opening along the roof of their mouth which makes it difficult for them to speak properly.
cleft sentence
a sentence in which a simpler sentence is paraphrased by being divided into two parts, each with its own verb , in order to emphasize certain information , esp. a sentence beginning with expletive it and a form of be followed by the information being emphasized, as It was a mushroom that Alice ate instead of Alice ate a mushroom
visceral cleft
any of a series of paired openings leading from the pharynx to the ectoderm on each side of the neck area in a chordate embryo : in fish and some amphibians the clefts develop into gill slits , but in land vertebrates they are either lost or transformed into other structures
in a cleft stick
If you say that a person or organization is in a cleft stick , you mean that they are in a difficult situation which will bring them problems and harm whatever they decide to do.
(noun)
Definition
an indentation or split
a narrow cleft in the rocks too small for a human to squeeze through
Synonyms
opening
He squeezed through an opening in the fence.
break
a break in the earth's surface
crack
She watched him though a crack in the curtains.
gap
the wind tearing through gaps in the window frames
rent
welling up from a rent in the ground
breach
A large battering ram hammered a breach in the wall.
fracture
large fractures in the crust creating the valleys
rift
In the open bog are many rifts and potholes.
chink
He peered through a chink in the curtains.
crevice
a huge boulder with rare ferns growing in every crevice
fissure
There was a great crack, and a fissure opened up.
cranny
The lizards fled into crannies in the rocks.
(adjective)
The cleft rock face seemed to move in the static noonday light.
Synonyms
split
a split finger nail
separated
They're trying their best to bring together separated families.
torn
a torn photograph
rent
ruptured
cloven
The tracks were made by an animal with a cloven hoof.
riven
The party was riven with factional fighting.
sundered
parted
Additional synonyms
in the sense of breach
Definition
a crack, break, or gap
A large battering ram hammered a breach in the wall.