rift

noun

1. A chasm or fissure.

   “My marriage is in trouble: the fight created a rift between us and we can't reconnect.”

   “The Grand Canyon is a rift in the Earth's surface, but is smaller than some of the undersea ones.”

2. A break in the clouds, fog, mist etc., which allows light through.

3. A shallow place in a stream; a ford.

4. A gap between cloud masses

   “the sun shone through a rift in the clouds”

5. A narrow fissure in rock

6. A personal or social separation (as between opposing factions)

   “they hoped to avoid a break in relations”

   Similar: rupture, breach, break, severance, falling out

verb

1. To form a rift; to split open.

2. To cleave; to rive; to split.

   “to rift an oak”

Past participle of rive