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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People with irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, fissures, fistulas, rectal bleeding, heart disease, or high blood pressure should also avoid the procedure, Hazan says.—
Erica Sweeney,
Time,
11 May 2026
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But there are fissures in the-- in the regime.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 May 2026
Noun
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Designed to crawl through tight crevices or trudge across rough terrain, X-Humanoid says they’re being built for jobs that humans would rather not do.—
Mithil Aggarwal,
NBC news,
15 May 2026
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Its pointed corners fit into crevices for raking out hard-to-reach pet hair from the car’s interior, car mats or any other fabric surface.—
BestReviews,
Mercury News,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cleft.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cleft. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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