1
as in fissures
an irregular usually narrow break in a surface created by pressure
a small rift opened in the earth's crust
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in gaps
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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rifts
Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
Stranger Things season 5 will pick up the story in the fall of 1987 at a time when the military has placed the entire town of Hawkins under military quarantine over the rifts that emerged.
—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The spot was a chance to reframe the Prince of Wales' public image after years of headlines surrounding family rifts and the fallout from the departure of his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, from the royal fold in 2020.
—Erin Hill, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Not just from the outside in but from our inside rifts.
—Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
Advertisement While trying to bridge internal party rifts, Takaichi will need to build a majority coalition and convince voters that changing leaders really matters.
—Jeff Kingston, Time, 4 Oct. 2025
Perhaps this is leading to relationship difficulties and highlighting potential rifts in other friendships?
—Miriam Kirmayer, SELF, 1 Oct. 2025
The primary setting is a classroom at a progressive private school in Berkeley, unfolding almost entirely in a series of board meetings where disagreements over how to handle a mumps outbreak expose deep and eventually quite angry rifts among the parents, on and off the board.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 24 Sep. 2025
This will only harm students’ ability to think critically and create rifts between them.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Sep. 2025
Noun
The European Union is also likely to take a strong role, though internal rifts have emerged within the EU regarding how aggressively to cut its own emissions.
—Andrew Freedman, CNN Money, 4 Nov. 2025
Stranger Things season 5 will pick up the story in the fall of 1987 at a time when the military has placed the entire town of Hawkins under military quarantine over the rifts that emerged.
—Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 30 Oct. 2025
The spot was a chance to reframe the Prince of Wales' public image after years of headlines surrounding family rifts and the fallout from the departure of his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan Markle, from the royal fold in 2020.
—Erin Hill, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Not just from the outside in but from our inside rifts.
—Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
Advertisement While trying to bridge internal party rifts, Takaichi will need to build a majority coalition and convince voters that changing leaders really matters.
—Jeff Kingston, Time, 4 Oct. 2025
Perhaps this is leading to relationship difficulties and highlighting potential rifts in other friendships?
—Miriam Kirmayer, SELF, 1 Oct. 2025
The primary setting is a classroom at a progressive private school in Berkeley, unfolding almost entirely in a series of board meetings where disagreements over how to handle a mumps outbreak expose deep and eventually quite angry rifts among the parents, on and off the board.
—Chris Willman, Variety, 24 Sep. 2025
This will only harm students’ ability to think critically and create rifts between them.
—The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 21 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifts
Noun
-
Those fissures burst into the open last week, when Tucker Carlson conducted a friendly interview with the cheerfully white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes.—
Max Tani,
semafor.com,
3 Nov. 2025
-
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
Noun
-
There were gaps and cracks at the metal flashing joints throughout the cook lines.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
7 Nov. 2025
-
As financial inequality widens, Vivian Tu, SoFi’s new Chief of Financial Empowerment is tackling the systemic gaps traditional advice ignores.—
Kimberly Wilson,
Essence,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Surviving Mormonism fractures the church’s seemingly perfect veneer to expose the secrets that have been kept behind closed doors.—
Armando Tinoco,
Deadline,
21 Oct. 2025
-
While a tiny fraction of the quake’s energy (less than 1%) fractures rocks, up to 80% of it is transformed into heat.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
How To Keep Stink Bugs Out Stink bugs can squeeze into tight spaces between siding, crawl into cracks and crevices in window frames, and enter through open doors, windows, and vents.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
6 Nov. 2025
-
The invasive beetles from Asia would burrow through bark, the females laying eggs in crevices.—
Frank Vaisvilas,
jsonline.com,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Officers saw multiple bullet holes on the metal fence dividing the properties and shell casings in his backyard, the affidavit said.—
Sofia Saric,
Miami Herald,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Add a pass rusher with the first pick, a receiver in Round 2 and then spend heavily on patching holes in free agency.—
Jacob Robinson,
New York Times,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Whatever pulls them together may also be the thing that tears them apart.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
30 Oct. 2025
-
First released in 2020 on South Africa’s M-Net, a division of MultiChoice, and now a Canal Plus company, the thriller about how a family tears itself apart in a succession battle built a huge fandom in South Africa and fame abroad.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
13 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
Heupel spreads out his receivers in an attempt to spread out the defense, then gashes them with the run.—
Seth Emerson,
New York Times,
10 Sep. 2025
-
The pictures show scars and gashes around the dog's snout.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Eleven flies up to be face-to-face with the Mind Flayer, rips out his throat, jumps inside, and in one sleek-as-hell move, rips Vecna down from the Mind Flayer power source he’s been plugged into.—
Maggie Fremont,
Vulture,
1 Jan. 2026
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In the clip, Oshry, who welcomed her first son Reuben, with her husband, Ben Soffer, in May, reaches into her fridge to grab a head of cabbage, then rips open her animal-print bathrobe to show a compression bra stuffed with cabbage leaves.—
Cara Lynn Shultz,
PEOPLE,
16 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rifts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rifts. Accessed 8 Jan. 2026.
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