the area between a woman's breasts, especially when revealed by a low-cut neckline.
a critical division in opinion, beliefs, interests, etc., as leading to opposition between two groups: a growing cleavage between the Conservative and Liberal wings of the party.
the tendency of crystals, certain minerals, rocks, etc., to break in preferred directions so as to yield more or less smooth surfaces (cleavage planes ).
Embryology. the total or partial division of the egg into smaller cells or blastomeres.
Also called scission. Chemistry. the breaking down of a molecule or compound into simpler structures.
So it can actually kind of game out how they want to be viewed by a specific group of people and hit those messages home, you know, and kind of create cleavage that previously wasn’t there or wouldn’t be there organically.
Podcast: How democracies can reclaim digital power|Anthony Green|October 15, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The technologies being fervently employed right now are enabling a reality in which campaigns can manufacture cleavages in the public, fundamentally altering how we form opinions and, ultimately, vote.
The technology that powers the 2020 campaigns, explained|Tate Ryan-Mosley|September 28, 2020|MIT Technology Review
She wore a sea-green, V-necked frock with a modest hint of cleavage.
‘Outnumbered’: The Making of a Fox News Hit|Lloyd Grove|October 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Try standing up to officialdom with that amount of cleavage brandished at you.
Ukraine’s Pro-Putin Rebels Prepare for a Last Stand|David Patrikarakos|July 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Karley Sciortino leans forward, adjusting a microphone buried in her cleavage.
Is This Dildo-Licking, Dominatrix-Loving Vogue Blogger the New Face of Feminism?|Lizzie Crocker|May 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The tangle of enormous fake diamonds resting on top of her cleavage sparkles at every flashbulb.
And The Escort of The Year Is… Backstage at The Sex Oscars|Scott Bixby|March 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I used to say that all I had left in life was my integrity and my cleavage.
The Week in Death: Clarissa Dickson Wright, One of ‘Two Fat Ladies’|The Telegraph|March 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From these observations it followed that the planes of cleavage ought not to be coincident with those of bedding.
Charles Lyell and Modern Geology|Thomas George Bonney
Thus, both acids were discovered by Ritthausen and Kreusler179 in the cleavage of such proteids by boiling dilute acid.
On Digestive Proteolysis|R. H. Chittenden
The cleavage between the two attitudes is too sharp for the comprehension of other nations.
Out To Win|Coningsby Dawson
The cleavage of the yolk is partial in the case of Birds and Reptiles, in Mammals it is total.
The History of Creation, Vol. II (of 2)|Ernst Haeckel
A different line of cleavage is indicated by the designation "religions of redemption."
Introduction to the History of Religions|Crawford Howell Toy
British Dictionary definitions for cleavage
cleavage
/ (ˈkliːvɪdʒ) /
noun
informalthe separation between a woman's breasts, esp as revealed by a low-cut dress
a division or split
(of crystals) the act of splitting or the tendency to split along definite planes so as to yield smooth surfaces
Also called: segmentationembryol(in animals) the repeated division of a fertilized ovum into a solid ball of cells (a morula), which later becomes hollow (a blastula)
the breaking of a chemical bond in a molecule to give smaller molecules or radicals
geologythe natural splitting of certain rocks, or minerals such as slates, or micas along the planes of weakness
The process by which an animal cell divides into two daughter cells after mitosis. In an embryo, this process is repeated many times and leads to the formation of the blastula.
GeologyThe breaking of certain minerals along specific planes, making smooth surfaces. These surfaces are parallel to the faces of the molecular crystals that make up the minerals. A mineral that exhibits cleavage breaks into smooth pieces with the same pattern of parallel surfaces regardless of how many times it is broken. Some minerals, like quartz, do not have a cleavage and break into uneven pieces with rough surfaces.
Biology
The series of mitotic cell divisions by which a single fertilized egg cell becomes a many-celled blastula. Each division produces cells half the size of the parent cell.
Any of the single cell divisions in such a series.