rive

rive

verb

Definition of RIVE

1

to cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly <road pavement that had been riven by the annual freeze-and-thaw cycle>

Synonyms break up, bust, distintegrate, dismember, disrupt, fracture, fragment, rive

Related Words atomize, crush, grind, powder, pulverize, reduce; blast, blow up, burst, detonate, explode; crack, pop, shatter, shiver, smash; chip, sliver, splinter, split; implode; destroy, ruin, wreck

Near Antonyms doctor, fix, heal, mend, patch, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, renovate, repair

2

to cause (something) to separate into jagged pieces by violently pulling at it <the bitter disappointment threatened to rive my heart in two>

Synonyms rend, ribbon, rip, rive, shred, tatter

Related Words break, cleave, rupture, split; cut, gash, incise, lacerate, slash; butcher, dismember, dissect, hack, mangle