cleft

UK: /ˈklɛft/ US: /klɛft/ ,(kleft)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

cleft¹ /klɛft/   n. [countable]

1. a space or opening made by cleavage;
   a split:
   a cleft in the rock formations.
2. a hollow area or indentation:
   a cleft in her chin.

cleft² /klɛft/   v. 

1. a pt. and pp. of cleave².

adj. 

2. Zoology cloven;
   split;
   divided.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

cleft¹  (kleft), n. 

1. a space or opening made by cleavage;
   a split.
2. a division formed by cleaving.
3. a hollow area or indentation:
   a chin with a cleft.
4. Veterinary Diseases a crack on the bend of the pastern of a horse.

• 1300–50; Middle English clift, Old English (ge)clyft split, cracked; cognate with Old High German, Old Norse kluft; akin to cleave²

Synonyms

• 1. fissure, crevice, crack, rift, cranny, chasm, crevasse.

cleft²  (kleft), v. 

1. a pt. and pp. of cleave ².

adj. 

2. Zoology cloven;
   split;
   divided.
3. Botany (of a leaf, corolla, lobe, or other expanded plant part) having divisions formed by incisions or narrow sinuses that extend more than halfway to the midrib or the base.

• see cleft¹

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cleft / klɛft/ verb

1. the past tense and a past participle of cleave1

noun

1. a fissure or crevice
2. an indentation or split in something, such as the chin, palate, etc

adjective

1. split; divided

Etymology: Old English geclyft (n); related to Old High German kluft tongs, German Kluft gap, fissure; see cleave¹