Associations to the word «Rift»

Wiktionary

RIFT, noun. A chasm or fissure.
RIFT, noun. A break in the clouds, fog, mist etc., which allows light through.
RIFT, noun. A shallow place in a stream; a ford.
RIFT, verb. (intransitive) To form a rift.
RIFT, verb. (transitive) To cleave; to rive; to split.
RIFT, verb. (obsolete outside Scotland and northern UK) To belch.
RIFT, verb. Past participle of rive
RIFT VALLEY, noun. (geology) A graben structure between two tectonic plates which are opening relative to each other.
RIFT VALLEY, noun. (geology) A mid-oceanic ridge system with central valleys.
RIFT VALLEY FEVER, noun. (disease) A mosquito-borne, acute, febrile, viral disease of humans and animals, caused by an RNA virus of the genus Phlebovirus, which occurs in northern and eastern Africa.
RIFT ZONE, noun. A feature of some volcanoes, especially the shield volcanoes of Hawaii, in which a linear series of fissures in the volcanic edifice allows lava to erupt from the volcano's flank instead of from its summit.

Dictionary definition

RIFT, noun. A gap between cloud masses; "the sun shone through a rift in the clouds".
RIFT, noun. A narrow fissure in rock.
RIFT, noun. A personal or social separation (as between opposing factions); "they hoped to avoid a break in relations".

Wise words

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.