Meaning

(transitive, archaic except in past participle) To tear apart by force; to rend; to split; to cleave..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive, archaic except in past participle) To tear apart by force; to rend; to split; to cleave.
2. (transitive, archaic) To pierce or cleave with a weapon.
3. (intransitive) To break apart; to split.
4. (transitive, rare) To burst open; explode; discharge.
5. (woodworking) To use a technique of splitting or sawing wood radially from a log (e.g. clapboards).
6. A place torn; a rent; a rift.
7. A bank or shore.
8. To land.

Example Sentences

I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds / Have rived the knotty oaks[…]

And therwith she toke the swerd from her loue that lay ded and fylle to the ground in a swowne / And whan she aroos she made grete dole out of mesure / the whiche sorowe greued Balyn passyngly sore / and he wente vnto her for to haue taken the swerd oute of her hād but[…]sodenly she sette the pomell to the ground / and rofe her self thorow the body

And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts [...] and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak-tree, Alveric slew him.

The varlet at his plaint was grieu'd so sore, / That his deepe wounded hart in two did riue[…].

Freestone i.e. that rives, splits, and breaks in any direction.

To the west, the country descends more gradually to the extensive plains of the Nile Valley but is riven by the rugged valleys of the Takezze and other Nile tributaries.

The company was riven by strikes. Years later, the dispute with the RMT union over driver operation of train doors has still not formally been resolved.

Oil-rich Libya has been riven by political infighting, corruption and external interference since a 2011 uprising that toppled and later led to the death of the longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Word Forms

• rives
• riving
• rived
• rove
• rave
• riven

Synonyms for rive

Related Words

When Should You Use Rive?

Use rive when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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