as in fissure
an irregular usually narrow break in a surface created by pressure
my fishing line managed to get wedged in a cleft in the rocks
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Recent Examples of cleft
Doctors couldn't tell her how severe the cleft would be or any other complications that may be involved with Benji's diagnosis.
—
Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
The group of four were scaling the Early Winters Spires, jagged peaks split by a cleft that is popular with climbers in the North Cascade Range, about 160 miles northeast of Seattle.
—CBS News, 14 May 2025
But today, the most important political cleft is not the fading distinction between right and left, but the rising conflict between liberal and illiberal, democratic and autocratic.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
Many birth defects are treatable; orofacial clefts and some heart defects, for example, can be corrected with surgery.
—Almut Winterstein, The Conversation, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cleft
Daniella Gray, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 July 2025
The group of four were scaling the Early Winters Spires, jagged peaks split by a cleft that is popular with climbers in the North Cascade Range, about 160 miles northeast of Seattle.
—CBS News, 14 May 2025
But today, the most important political cleft is not the fading distinction between right and left, but the rising conflict between liberal and illiberal, democratic and autocratic.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 28 Mar. 2025
Many birth defects are treatable; orofacial clefts and some heart defects, for example, can be corrected with surgery.
—Almut Winterstein, The Conversation, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cleft
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cleft
Noun
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Once in San Diego, the gears switch back to the fissures in the domestic relationships, specifically Danny and Nia.—
Ile-Ife Okantah,
Vulture,
7 May 2026
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That creates a fissure among the survivors, an escalating conflict through which the behaviors of young men, both for better and worse (mostly worse), are boiled down to their terrifying essence.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
4 May 2026
Noun
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In early April, a falcon named Vixen – who was raised in a nest in Minneapolis – began nesting in a crevice on the second floor of Aurora City Hall.—
Todd Feurer,
CBS News,
5 May 2026
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After sauce has cooked, submerge meatballs and cook on high for 1 hour to ensure that the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce penetrates every crevice of the hearty meat dish.—
Jenna Sims,
Southern Living,
1 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cleft.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cleft. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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