: split apart
riven wood [=wood split apart along the grain]
: divided into pieces or factions
a riven nation
… beautifully nuanced portraits of a riven people, separated by more than an ocean.—
Mylène Dressler
Mylène DresslerExamples of riven in a Sentence
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The heroism of Shaw, a white man, and his Black comrades lay not just in their martial valor but in their willingness to work together, at great risk, to test whether the ancient American ideal of unity amid diversity could survive their riven nation.
—Trygve Throntveit, Time, 27 May 2026
The situation in the DRC is especially acute: the first cases clustered in a remote region riven with political conflict and violence that displaced more than 100,000 people in 2025.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 20 May 2026
Indeed, in a match riven with unsporting behaviour, there is an underlying honesty to this encounter.
—Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
In a region riven by decades of conflict and more than two years of war, a group of Israelis and Palestinians came together Monday evening – physically and virtually – to do something increasingly rare: mourn together and recognize each other’s grief and loss.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 21 Apr. 2026
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Trygve Throntveit, Time, 27 May 2026
The situation in the DRC is especially acute: the first cases clustered in a remote region riven with political conflict and violence that displaced more than 100,000 people in 2025.
—Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 20 May 2026
Indeed, in a match riven with unsporting behaviour, there is an underlying honesty to this encounter.
—Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2026
In a region riven by decades of conflict and more than two years of war, a group of Israelis and Palestinians came together Monday evening – physically and virtually – to do something increasingly rare: mourn together and recognize each other’s grief and loss.
—Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 21 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for riven
Cite this Entry
“Riven.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/riven. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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