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
Every year a new Maid of Orleans is elected from les damoiselles de la rive gauche, and she is the figurehead of the Saint Germain Fair.
From Time Magazine Archive
The murmur increased to an even groan of terror, and here and there, as some more acutely realized the desperate straits, frantic screams would rive through the drone of misery.
From Saul of Tarsus A Tale of the Early Christians by Elizabeth Miller
Ernest is a fascinating, thorny character, especially in the age of Marvel Manichaeism, and he’s rived by contradictions that he scarcely seems aware of.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2023
Now she is rived with guilt, the initial headiness of the relationship ceding to the realization that her lover is, basically, a controlling jerk.
From New York Times ● Jul. 24, 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
We tore up the channel at an unexampled pace, the cleft north wind driving angrily past as the destroyer rived its way through.
From Europe—Whither Bound? Being Letters of Travel from the Capitals of Europe in the Year 1921 by Stephen Graham
Mr. El-Sayed heads into the general election with his party riven into factions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 19, 2026
Rumoured to be descended from Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu was born in the central city of Changsha in 1928 into a China riven by civil war.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
One of those strengths is a mental fortitude that comes with representing a country that is riven by crisis and humanitarian disaster.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
The book he writes about Lalo develops his thesis that Creole culture embodies the “collective spirit” needed to heal a country riven by racial division and civil strife.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
Ahead, on the western horizon, clouds lay heaped and brilliant, riven with chasms of darkness, their tops drawn out in the high-altitude winds.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
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
How to make a riving and a new life?
From Time Magazine Archive
An unsuccessful mail plane was Martin's only non-military venture lately until this year when Pan American Airways submitted specifications for a huge riving boat of long cruising range for oceanic service.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
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