Rend
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A violent separation of parts.
"She'd been in a couple of minor car accidents herself, and witnessed a few others, and the rend of metal was unforgettable."
- 1 To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst. transitive
"Powder rends a rock in blasting."
- 2 tear or be torn violently wordnet
- 3 To violently disturb the peace of; to throw into chaos. figuratively, transitive
"a scream that rent the air"
- 4 To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate. transitive
"And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven."
- 5 To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split. intransitive
"Relationships may rend if tempers flare."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples""We come not hither with the sword to rend / your Libyan homes, and shoreward drive the prey. / Nay, no such violence our thoughts intend, / such pride suits not the vanquished.""
Etymology
From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan (“to rend, tear, cut, lacerate, cut down”), from Proto-West Germanic *(h)randijan (“to tear”), of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causative of Proto-Germanic *hrindaną (“to push”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret- (“to hit, beat”), which would make it related to Old English hrindan (“to thrust, push”). Cognate with Scots rent (“to rend, tear”), Old Frisian renda (“to tear”).