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

Habermas was born with a cleft palate that required repeated operations as a child, an experience he later said helped shape his thinking about language and communication.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026

The medical term for my ailment is an asymmetrical gluteal cleft, though requests to fix it are far less common than those to eliminate cellulite, flatten the tummy, or augment the breasts.

From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2026

Schimberg, who became friends with Pearson during “Chained for Life,” also drew from his own experience with a cleft palate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 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

When my smallest finger caresses the narrow cleft beneath his nose, sometimes his tongue slips out of his mouth and he licks my fingernail.

From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat

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

From Science Daily ● Jan. 22, 2024

Although it only covers about three square miles, the coastline is so ragged with “geos” — deep clefts in cliffs — that walking the circumference takes longer than you might think.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 16, 2021

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

They communicate across infinitesimal gaps known as synaptic clefts.

From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2018

Pushing myself, continually out of breath, I scurried up and to the left, across small snowfields linked by ice-choked clefts and short rock steps.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer