rive
Americanverb (used with object)
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to tear or rend apart.
to rive meat from a bone.
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to separate by striking; split; cleave.
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to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
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to split (wood) radially from a log.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to split asunder
a tree riven by lightning
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to tear apart
riven to shreds
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archaic to break (the heart) or (of the heart) to be broken
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rive
1225–75; Middle English riven < Old Norse rīfa to tear, split. See rift
Vocabulary lists containing rive
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Though she did not hang out with the bohemians and intellectuals of the rive gauche, there was nevertheless something about her persona that chimed with the romantic existentialism of the time.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2018
You never put your foot in the same rive twice.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2017
“Per le spiagge, per le rive di Trieste,” he began, singing the opening lines of “The Bells of Saint Giusto,” a patriotic World War I paean to Italy’s victory against—and Trieste’s independence from—Austria-Hungary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2015
Theoretically, a Caltech student may ar rive at all the wrong answers on exams, and still get passing marks if his professor believes that his thinking is sound.
From Time Magazine Archive
Madame von Marwitz sent her presents from Paris; a wonderful white silk dressing-gown; a box of chocolate; a charming bit of old enamel picked up in a rive gauche curiosity shop.
From Tante by Anne Douglas Sedgwick
But the Mason marriage also suggests an allegory of the West itself, which Stegner saw as perpetually and fatally rived between a destructive, antisocial individualism and a too often stymied longing for stability and community.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2020
Its deep view of a rived terrain in browns and shadowy blacks is relieved by an interval of sun-dappled clouds and scattered rain showers, culminating in a band of leaden sky.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2018
The battle that Gil cannot leave behind is the war that rived his nation.
From Washington Post ● May 11, 2018
In a country rived by tribal rivalries, Kenyatta, 55, has the support of many Kikuyus and Kalenjins, while Odinga, 72, is strong among the Luos, Luhyas and Kambas.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2017
To him who, deadly hurt, agen Flashed on afore the charge's thunder, 135Tippin' with fire the bolt of men Thet rived the Rebel line asunder?
From The Vision of Sir Launfal And Other Poems by James Russell Lowell; With a Biographical Sketch and Notes, a Portrait and Other Illustrations by James Russell Lowell
By sunset, the "Islamabad Talks" had produced press releases, a memorable food spread and impressively fast internet in a country riven with tech challenges.
From Barron's ● Apr. 11, 2026
“I actually have some thoughts,” she said when asked by a reporter how she felt about representing the U.S. at a time when the country is riven by deep political divides.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 8, 2026
Long before Nancy's arrival, the club was riven with disharmony.
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2025
Small towns were riven between people calling themselves Patriots and British Loyalists.
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2025
It began to drizzle, as if all that flying metal had riven holes in the clouds.
From "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs
However, the game turned on its head in dramatic fashion when Charteris was sent to the sin-bin for stopping a riving maul illegally.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2014
Craig DuMez Brookfield, Wis. As an American riving in Brazil, I felt great pride as I listened to Mondale's concession speech.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their two daughters are riving on the West Coast, and their son David, 18, is attending Auburn University in Alabama.
From Time Magazine Archive
How to make a riving and a new life?
From Time Magazine Archive
Starting in fall 1793, British troops began ar- riving in Saint Domingue to reenslave people and return them to their sugar plantations.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
