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Cleavage

//ˈkliː.vɪd͡ʒ// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of cleaving or the state of being cleft. countable, uncountable

    "Mineral cleavage is a property of cohesion. The cleavage of the particles themselves and its attitude with reference to the plane of the greatest and mean dimensional axes help to determine the perfection of rock cleavage. The more nearly parallel to the greater dimensions of the particle, and the better the mineral cleavage, the better the rock cleavage produced."

  2. 2
    the act of cleaving or splitting wordnet
  3. 3
    The hollow or separation between a woman's breasts, especially as revealed by a low neckline. countable, uncountable

    "Holonym: décolletage"

  4. 4
    the line formed by a groove between two parts (especially the separation between a woman's breasts) wordnet
  5. 5
    Any similar separation between two body parts, such as the buttocks or toes. broadly, countable, uncountable

    "Half an hour later, she was staring at a large bottom-cleavage, which was protruding from under the bed. / 'Ohhh Kayyy. Here we go. This is basically your problem.' / Olivia took a few steps back as the bottom-cleavage started wriggling out towards her. Connor the counter-surveillance expert pulled himself awkwardly to his knees, […]"

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    (embryology) the repeated division of a fertilised ovum wordnet
  2. 7
    The repeated division of a cell into daughter cells after mitosis. countable, uncountable

    "[C]itellate annelids (leeches + oligochaetes) provide solid ground for comparative analyses, because they form a monophyletic group within the paraphyletic polychaetes[…]. […] The unequal cleavage of the zygote followed by the unequal cleavage of the CD cell is critical for D-quadrant specification since the cytoplasmic determinants present in teloplasm are segregated to the larger CD cell at first asymmetric cleavage and then to the larger D cell at the second asymmetric cleavage[…]."

  3. 8
    the breaking of a chemical bond in a molecule resulting in smaller molecules wordnet
  4. 9
    The splitting of a large molecule into smaller ones. countable, uncountable

    "Carotenoid cleavage oxygenases (CCOs) are a class of enzymes that oxidatively cleave carotenoids into apocarotenoids. Carotenoid cleavage oxygenases have been identified in plants and animals and produce a wide range of cleavage products. […] Two of the three enzymes showed cleavage of β, β-carotene at the 9,10 and 15,15' position, respectively."

  5. 10
    the state of being split or cleft wordnet
  6. 11
    The tendency of a crystal to split along specific planes; schistosity. countable, uncountable

    "Notice that cleavage has nothing to do with imperfections in the crystal. Indeed, if you try cleaving an imperfect crystal, you may find that it cannot be cleaved as well as a perfect one. The cleavage is the result of the orderliness of the atomic arrangement. No wonder imperfections, which disturb the orderliness, disturb the cleavage as well. You will also note that the cleavage directions are obedient to the symmetry of the crystal."

  7. 12
    The division of voters into voting blocs. countable, uncountable

    "A voting bloc in Congress can represent a long-standing alliance or can be created anew as a result of the increased saliency of a particular issue, such as war or a severe economic downturn. A division between voting blocs is called a cleavage and because voting blocs are impermanent, dominant cleavages are always changing."

Etymology

From cleave + -age.

See also for "cleavage"

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