fissure

[fish-er]

noun

1. a narrow opening produced by cleavage or separation of parts.

2. cleavage.

3. Anatomy.,  a natural division or groove in an organ, as in the brain.

verb (used with object)

fissured, fissuring 

1. to make fissures in; cleave; split.

verb (used without object)

fissured, fissuring 

1. to open in fissures; become split.

fissure

/ ˈfɪʃə /

noun

1. any long narrow cleft or crack, esp in a rock

2. a weakness or flaw indicating impending disruption or discord

   fissures in a decaying empire

3. anatomy a narrow split or groove that divides an organ such as the brain, lung, or liver into lobes See also sulcus

4. a small unnatural crack in the skin or mucous membrane, as between the toes or at the anus

5. a minute crack in the surface of a tooth, caused by imperfect joining of enamel during development

verb

1. to crack or split apart

fissure

1. A long, narrow crack or opening in the face of a rock. Fissures are often filled with minerals of a different type from those in the surrounding rock.

Other Word Forms

• fissural adjective
• fissureless adjective
• subfissure noun
• superfissure noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of fissure¹

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin fissūra cleaving, cleft, fissure, equivalent to fiss ( us ) divided ( fissi- ) + -ūra -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of fissure¹

C14: from medical Latin fissūra , from Latin fissus split

Example Sentences

The Jones mess is a microcosm of larger Democratic fissures.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This time, however, is unique: There are warning augurs of fissures for the economy, inflation is persisting and markets are on edge.

Read more on MarketWatch

Israel’s growing isolation has widened fissures between its far-right and more globalist left, and caused soul-searching over how far a nation should go to defend itself.

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For six months, the actor spent more time in monster makeup than out of it, with muscled prosthetics layered onto his body and deep fissures painted onto his skin.

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During the following decades, exhibitions often revealed a tug-of-war between opposing sensibilities—fissures perhaps unavoidable in a contentious democracy’s national museums—but in this century, a particular ideological bent has become dominant.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cleavage 
• crevice