cleft

¹ American  

[kleft] / klɛft /

noun

clefts plural

1. a space or opening made by cleavage; a split.

   Synonyms:

   crevasse, chasm, cranny, rift, crack, crevice, fissure

2. a division formed by cleaving.

3. a hollow area or indentation.

   a chin with a cleft.

4. Veterinary Pathology. a crack on the bend of the pastern of a horse.

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cleft ² American  

[kleft] / klɛft /

verb

1. a simple past tense and past participle of cleave.

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adjective

1. cloven; split; divided.

2. (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.

cleft British  

/ klɛft /

verb

1. the past tense and a past participle of cleave 1

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noun

1. a fissure or crevice

2. an indentation or split in something, such as the chin, palate, etc

adjective

1. split; divided

2. (of leaves) having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the midrib

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• clefts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cleft¹

1300–50; Middle English clift, Old English ( ge ) clyft split, cracked; cognate with Old High German, Old Norse kluft; akin to cleave ²

Origin of cleft²

see origin at cleft ¹

Explanation

If you're looking for an indentation or opening in something, you're looking for a cleft (noun). A person with a cleft (adjective) chin has a little dent in the middle of their chin. Most superheroes have one. Superman is known for his ability to leap tall buildings, his crush on Lois Lane, and the cleft in his chin. For some reason, that cleft is supposed to make him look strong. Some clefts are not so nice. A cleft palate is an upper lip with a deep indentation in it that should be fixed by a surgeon. You may know the verb cleave, which means to cut down the middle. If you cleave something but don't finish the job, you've probably left a cleft in it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cleft clefts

Waiting lists for gynae mesh, children's squints, children's feeding tubes and cleft lip will also be tackled.

From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2025

He had the darkest eyelashes I’ve ever seen, short and tidy fingernails, and a cleft chin that could fit a Canadian loonie.

From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2024

“It certainly happened to me,” said Schimberg, who has a cleft palate.

From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2024

The model will allow them to rapidly screen thousands of dietary and environmental factors in a laboratory dish before testing the impact of specific factors on cleft susceptibility in mouse models.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2024

Only her hands and bare feet, wedged in the single cleft that ran spiral from the base of the tower to its tip.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

The timing of when DNA methylation occurs, was critical to the development of orofacial clefts.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2024

Holes, slits and clefts are common, surrounded by clay inscribed with organic patterns.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023

And there will be paintings — the latest from her ongoing series depicting faceless torsos and abstract clefts, bodies alone or cleaving.

From New York Times ● Jan. 13, 2023

The protein is large and globular, and it doesn’t have deep pockets or clefts on its surface where a drug could slip in.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2021

Along the crest of the ridge the hobbits could see what looked to be the remains of green-grown walls and dikes, and in the clefts there still stood the ruins of old works of stone.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien