1
as in disrupts
to cause to separate into pieces usually suddenly or forcibly
road pavement that had been riven by the annual freeze-and-thaw cycle
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in rips
to cause (something) to separate into jagged pieces by violently pulling at it
the bitter disappointment threatened to rive my heart in two
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rives
Verb
-
Airlines around the world have been grappling with volatile oil markets as fighting near the Strait of Hormuz disrupts global supplies.—
Rio Yamat,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026 -
Spilling kills ocean wildlife, fouls beaches and disrupts coastal economies.—
Kristen Monsell,
Sun Sentinel,
7 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Continue reading … ROBES RIVALRY — Liberal justice Elena Kagan rips colleague Jackson's dissent in rare public break.—
,
FOXNews.com,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Then a man comes in from behind and rips down their banner.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
If the toilet breaks on the way to Mars, there is a non-zero chance the crew is dying.—
Eric Berger,
ArsTechnica,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Her heart breaks for kids who were born with cameras in their faces or for kids shown in vulnerable moments.—
Fortesa Latifi,
Rolling Stone,
5 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
As the GIs raise their guns, a pudgy hand in the backseat tears a strip of white cloth from his companion’s petticoat for the chauffeur to hang out the window.—
Alice Kaplan,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
-
If the oyster tears slightly, don’t panic; flavor matters much more than perfection.—
Rai Mincey,
Southern Living,
10 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Asking them to leapfrog to low-carbon pathways while denying them finance, technology, and infrastructure undermines trust and fractures global cooperation—the very cooperation climate action depends on.—
Damilola Ogunbiyi,
Time,
19 Mar. 2026
-
South America fractures into a puzzle of fjords and channels at the southernmost tip of the continent, the Brunswick Peninsula, in Chile’s Magallanes Region, where the future park will protect temperate rainforests, shrublands, and vast carbon-capturing peat bogs.—
Mark Johanson,
Outside,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Rototilling also destroys earthworms and the critical beneficial microbes that interact with plant roots to keep them healthy.—
Nan Sterman,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
4 Apr. 2026
-
Because scarring alopecia destroys the hair follicles, the resulting hair loss is permanent.—
Rebecca Strong,
USA Today,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
But shortly thereafter, its nucleus fragments and quickly disintegrates.—
Joe Rao,
Space.com,
31 Mar. 2026
-
The café disintegrates, white-peach mimosas lost forever.—
Sara Holdren,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Rives.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rives. Accessed 11 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
