Fissure

//ˈfɪʃ.ə// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A long, narrow crack or opening made by breaking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.

    "After Miller's Dale Junction, the main Derby-Manchester line crosses the Wye for the last time and turns north-west up Great Rocks Dale, a natural fissure several miles long."

  2. 2
    (anatomy) a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ into lobes wordnet
  3. 3
    A groove, deep furrow, elongated cleft or tear between body parts or in the substance of an organ.
  4. 4
    a long narrow cleft wordnet
  5. 5
    A break or slit in tissue usually at the junction of skin and mucous membrane.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    a long narrow depression in a surface wordnet
  2. 7
    A state of incompatibility or disagreement.
Verb
  1. 1
    To split, forming fissures.
  2. 2
    break into fissures or fine cracks wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
crackcreviceabysmabyssamputateaperture

Example

More examples

"A cinder-and-spatter cone is building at fissure 8 as the cone continues to feed a lava flow that reaches the ocean at Kapoho during ongoing eruptions of the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii."

Etymology

From Middle English fissure, from Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra (“a cleft, chink”), from findō (“to cleave, split, divide”) + -tūra (nominal suffix).

Related phrases

Sylvian fissureape-fissurefissure needlefissure veinfissure ventinferior orbital fissurepterygomaxillary fissuresuperior orbital fissureearth opening

More for "fissure"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.