cleave

Meaning

1. To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
2. To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
3. To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
4. (chemistry) To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
5. To split.
6. Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.

cleave

split

adhere

rend

break

cling

crack

sever

cut

stick

chop

divide

pierce

hew

cohere

rive

rip

snap

splinter

tear

slice

part

slash

slit

cut up

fissure

cling to

stick to

shave

shear

shorten

segment

cut asunder

penetrate

glue

burst

split up

lop

cut open

be smashed

be torn

adhere to

cut off

spilt

bind

bond

separate

hold together

devide

quadrisect

quarter

break in two

burst open

tear asunder

tear open

tear up

pierce through

break into pieces

be suddenly rent asunder

break forth

attach

pass

rift

uproot

join with

strike blows

dent

open

unbar

unbolt

unclose

uncork

contract

gum

gum up

intrude

paste

size

fist

shred

skive

sliver

slot

wedge

knock down

peel off

pry

tear off

split lengthwise

stick together

dismember

parcel

section

bog down

catch

claw

grab

grasp

grip

hitch

infect

prehend

trap

chase

chip at

flute

furrow

gauffer

goffer

gouge

grave

gutter

indent

rabbet

rebate

scratch

break off

gore

knife

spear

stab

thrust

wound

cut through

cut in half

break in pieces

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kliːv/

From Middle English cleven, from the Old English strong verb clēofan (“to split, to separate”), from Proto-West Germanic *kleuban, from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, to slice”). Doublet of clive. Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, Norwegian Nynorsk kløyva; also Ancient Greek γλύφω (glúphō, “carve”).