RIFT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rift mean? 

• RIFT (noun)
  The noun RIFT has 3 senses:

1. a gap between cloud masses

2. a narrow fissure in rock

3. a personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

  Familiarity information: RIFT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RIFT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A gap between cloud masses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

the sun shone through a rift in the clouds

Hypernyms ("rift" is a kind of...):

gap; opening (an open or empty space in or between things)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A narrow fissure in rock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("rift" is a kind of...):

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure (a long narrow opening)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

breach; break; falling out; rift; rupture; severance

Context example:

they hoped to avoid a break in relations

Hypernyms ("rift" is a kind of...):

breakup; detachment; separation (coming apart)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rift"):

schism (the formal separation of a church into two churches or the withdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences)

 Context examples 

In five miles we saw no rift or break.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the contrary, said Holmes, it is the brightest rift which I can at present see in the clouds.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The surface is very uneven, rising like the waves of a troubled sea, descending low, and interspersed by rifts that sink deep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Further, other poorly observed external factors, such as temperatures, winds, waves and ocean currents, might play an important role in rift growth.

(Massive Iceberg Breaks Off from Antarctica, NASA)

At the same time the Genoese sailors thrust with their oars against the side of the cog, and a rapidly widening rift appeared between the two vessels.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here and there seemed mighty rifts in the mountains, through which, as the sun began to sink, we saw now and again the white gleam of falling water.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In imagination he dared to think of her lips on his, and so vividly did he imagine that he went dizzy at the thought and seemed to rift through clouds of rose-petals, filling his brain with their perfume.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The years were not many when the Yeehats noted a change in the breed of timber wolves; for some were seen with splashes of brown on head and muzzle, and with a rift of white centring down the chest.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

There was a brisk wind blowing, and the moon kept peeping through the rifts of the scud, so that our road was sometimes silver-clear, and sometimes so black that we found ourselves among the brambles and gorse-bushes which lined it.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This could cause a rift with the person you are dating (or it may have to do with plans you have for one of your children), and the hard part is that this aspect has a wide area of influence.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)