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1. : to divide by or as if by a cutting blow : split. The blow cleaved the victim's skull. 2. : to separate into distinct parts and especially into groups having divergent views. The political party was cleaved by internal bickering. 3. : to subject to chemical cleavage.
Synonyms for CLEAVED: adhered, clung, stuck, hewed, bound, glued, fused, fastened; Antonyms of CLEAVED: fell, dropped, loosened.
Cleave, a verb, has two very different meanings. It can describe cutting or splitting something apart with a sharp instrument, or — oddly enough — it can describe sticking to something like glue. To cleave or not to cleave, that is the question.
to separate or divide, or cause something to separate or divide, often violently: cleave something in twain With one blow of the knight's axe, he clove the rock in twain (= into two pieces). SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Separating and dividing.
to cut or break into two or more parts: [ I ] The volcano cleaved nearly in half after its last eruption. (Definition of cleave from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) Examples of cleave.
1. to split or divide by or as if by a cutting blow, esp. along a natural line of division, as the grain of wood. 2. to make by or as if by cutting: to cleave a path through the wilderness. 3. to penetrate or pass through (air, water, etc.): The bow of the boat cleaved the water cleanly.
to be in a difficult situation when any action you take will have bad results. Definition of cleave verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
To cleave something means to split or divide it into two separate parts, often violently. [literary] They just cleave the stone along the cracks. [VERB noun] 2. verb. If someone cleaves to something or to someone else, they begin or continue to have strong feelings of loyalty towards them. [formal] She has cleaved to these principles all her life.
Origin of Cleave. From Middle English cleven, from the Old English strong verb clēofan, from Proto-Germanic *kleubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *glewbʰ- (“to cut, to slice”). Cognate with Dutch klieven, dialectal German klieben, Swedish klyva, and Greek γλύφω (glýfo, “carve”).
cleave. verb. These are words and phrases related to cleave. Click on any word or phrase to go to its thesaurus page. Or, go to the definition of cleave. His wet shirt cleaved to his back. Honest people always cleave to their principles.
