rend

American  

[rend] / rɛnd /

verb (used with object)

• rends,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rent,
  past participle,  past
• rending
  present participle

1. to separate into parts with force or violence.

   The storm rent the ship to pieces.

2. to tear apart, split, or divide.

   racial tension that is rending the nation.

   Synonyms:

   rupture, fracture, chop, cleave, sever, sunder, rive

3. to pull or tear violently (often followed by away, off, up, etc.).

4. to tear (one's garments or hair) in grief, rage, etc.

5. to disturb (the air) sharply with loud noise.

6. to harrow or distress (the heart) with painful feelings.

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verb (used without object)

• rends,
  present (3rd person singular)
• rent,
  past participle,  past
• rending
  present participle

1. to split or tear something.

2. to become torn or split.

rend British  

/ rɛnd /

verb

1. to tear with violent force or to be torn in this way; rip

2. (tr) to tear or pull (one's clothes, etc), esp as a manifestation of rage or grief

3. (tr) (of a noise or cry) to disturb (the air, silence, etc) with a shrill or piercing tone

4. (tr) to pain or distress (the heart, conscience, etc)

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Synonym Usage

See tear ².

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rendible
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• rending
  present
• rent
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• rend
  simple
• rends
  simple
• have rent
  perfect
• has rent
  perfect
• am rending
  progressive
• are rending
  progressive
• is rending
  progressive
• have been rending
  perfect progressive
• has been rending
  perfect progressive

Past

• rent
  simple
• had rent
  perfect
• was rending
  progressive
• were rending
  progressive
• had been rending
  perfect progressive

Future

• will rend
  simple
• will have rent
  perfect
• will be rending
  progressive
• will have been rending
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of rend

First recorded before 950; Middle English renden, Old English rendan; cognate with Old Frisian renda

Explanation

The verb rend means to tear with force or violence, or into many pieces. Your parents won't be happy if your new kitten decides to rend their brand new curtains with her tiny claws. Tear, rip, and rend are all synonyms, but it's a question of degree. Of the three, rend implies the most violent separation. You can also use rend figuratively to express great emotional distress or to describe a sharp, piercing sound. If you're betrayed by a friend, it rends your heart right out of your chest.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

rend rends rent rending

"If global debt resumes its rising rend going forward, the debt rollercoaster since the pandemic will look nothing more than a temporary deviation around its long-term rising trend."

From Reuters ● Sep. 13, 2023

Snook does everything but rend her garments in a performance that only emphasizes the busy vapidity of Hannah Kent’s script.

From New York Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

Some people have wondered if his departure in early 2016 didn’t somehow rend the fabric of space-time and send us hurtling into a dimension of alternate outcomes.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 29, 2021

And that remains its role now, as thousands of researchers join forces in a collective mission: to better know SARS-CoV-2 and to rend that virus’s complexities into a blueprint to plan its containment and control.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 10, 2021

Then the Black Captain rose in his stirrups and cried aloud in a dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and terror to rend both heart and stone.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Noted playwright Hudes pens a stunning debut novel that rends conventional notions of motherhood.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2025

We find her at a bleak roadside cemetery where her grief rends the air.

From BBC ● May 9, 2023

What’s left behind after a natural disaster so powerful that it rends the foundations of a society?

From Washington Times ● Feb. 10, 2023

As a result, Alisa makes a terrible choice that rends the family forever.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 1, 2022

The knight's resistance grew feebler, till at length a hollow voice exclaimed, "Je me rends!"

From The Winning of the Golden Spurs by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman

The model is helping real-estate investors buy, renovate and rent out vacant and dilapidated homes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

“There’s no sense in them buying a car when they could rent one for a few hundred bucks, and it’s theirs forever.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026

Oh, and if you rent but you still want exposure to the real-estate market, you could always take that 20% down payment you were saving up and invest it in a bunch of residential REITs.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

When Andrew had taken on the 75 year lease in 2003, he had made considerable up-front payments, including about £7.5m for repairs, which meant that he did not have to pay a monthly rent.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

The rent was fifty-five rupees a month—about a dollar in today’s terms, but a colossal fortune for her family.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

When I defended the author and the decision to run his op-ed, there was more rending of garments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

But if the first go-rounds last year were tragedy—depressing stocks, spiking prices, and rending hearts in both countries—the latest skirmish is starting to look more like farce.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

To Polley, more heart rending was that it proved that such a conversation is possible to have, in a hayloft or anywhere else.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

It was not Mount St. Helens that blew, but a gash that appeared in the earth, rending the real world and allowing that monster-y dimension, the Upside Down, more entry.

From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2022

But there was a rending, tearing noise of work going on inside.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

Related Words

• rive