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cleave
1 syllable · also cleft, clove, clovenYour browser doesn’t have built-in voices. Try Chrome, Edge or Safari.
As a verb, cleave means split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument. As a noun, it means flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
Meanings of cleave
9 meaningsverb
To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
“The wings cleaved the foggy air.”
mineralogyTo break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
“The truck cleaved a path through the ice.”
chemistryTo split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
To split.
mineralogyOf a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
Older and rare meanings (1)
rareFollowed by to or unto: to adhere, cling, or stick fast to something.
noun
technologyFlat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).