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as in gap
an open space in a barrier (as a wall or hedge)
it was possible to peek through the rift in the fence and see the ball game
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to rupture
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of rift
Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2022
The police, unsurprisingly, started to fire tear gas canisters again, trying to rift and wedge the fleeing protesters.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 28 Dec. 2019
Miami Herald, 22 Oct. 2025
Now, the bride is unsure how to navigate her family rift sparked by her child-free wedding policy.
—Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rift
Noun
However, the supercontinent began to rift and splinter in the late Triassic about 230 million years ago.
—Gabe Allen, Discover Magazine, 15 Sep. 2022
The police, unsurprisingly, started to fire tear gas canisters again, trying to rift and wedge the fleeing protesters.
—Quartz Staff, Quartz, 28 Dec. 2019
Verb
Tagovailoa, however, downplayed the existence of an internal rift.
—Miami Herald, 22 Oct. 2025
Now, the bride is unsure how to navigate her family rift sparked by her child-free wedding policy.
—Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rift
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rift
Noun
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The journalist Beth Macy, who in her previous books chronicled the widening fissures in American society by examining the opioid crisis and the aftereffects of globalization, grew up there.—
Alex Kotlowitz,
The Atlantic,
29 Oct. 2025
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Once enough cars have sped over these fissures, chunks begin breaking off to create those infamous potholes that pop tires and ruin shocks.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Developers now look for weak spots before hackers can find them, closing gaps with regular updates and smarter monitoring.—
Lyssanoel Frater,
USA Today,
29 Oct. 2025
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Skipper answered her three highest priority areas going forward post-speech, listing the district’s achievement and opportunity gap, accessibility, and early childhood opportunities.—
Grace Zokovitch,
Boston Herald,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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There’s a persistent myth on the internet that the pressure from the plates used in mammograms could rupture, shift or crush implants—the procedure involves having plates and pressure applied to the chest—but the radiologists say this is not true.—
Helen Carefoot,
Flow Space,
28 Oct. 2025
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Any aneurysm has the potential to rupture, which can lead to serious complications such as stroke, brain injury, coma or death.—
Lucy Notarantonio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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One solo roach sat inside a wall crevice.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
31 Oct. 2025
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While working in his cave, Dill found a crevice leading to an upper level.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Keep your windows closed and patch any holes in screens to deter moths from entering your home.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
31 Oct. 2025
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Next, a 10,000-pound concrete-and-steel battering ram was used to punch 24-foot holes through the ice, beginning at the far end of the whales' four-mile path to freedom, so as not to alarm them.—
Virginia Chamlee,
PEOPLE,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Skattebo dislocated his ankle, fractured his fibula and ruptured his deltoid ligament on the play in question, all of which will combine to sideline him for the remainder of the regular season.—
Max Dible,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 Oct. 2025
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His work weaves together science, ancient training and healing systems, and the fighting arts to examine how systems — whether human bodies or family enterprises — fracture under pressure or transform because of it.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Nineteen people are confirmed dead in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa tore through the island as a Category 5 hurricane this week -- and that death toll is expected to rise, officials said.—
Emily Shapiro,
ABC News,
31 Oct. 2025
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Hurricane Melissa tore through the Caribbean in recent days, leaving a wake of destruction as some of the region’s poorest countries struggled to cope with the storm.—
Jeronimo Gonzalez,
semafor.com,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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It’s hushed, melancholy and rending in all the best ways.—
John Wenzel,
Denver Post,
16 July 2025
-
Dallas keeps bringing up last year’s six-game win over Colorado in an apparent effort to buck up themselves and their despondent fans, who are rending their garments over a meaningless seven-game losing streak to end the season.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
20 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rift.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rift. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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