adj, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   past participle of rive form-of, participle, past

Adjective

1. 1
   Torn apart. not-comparable
2. 2
   Broken into pieces; split asunder. not-comparable

   "“She shall be blasted like a riven oak! Drowned in sulphur! Torn by whirlwinds!”"

Synonyms

All synonyms

branchingcleftclovencrackedcutdivided

Example

More examples

"I want to make a book cover like the leather-bound books that you get in Myst and Riven."

Etymology

From Middle English riven, past participle of rive (“to rive”). Compare Old Norse rifinn, past participle of Old Norse rífa (“to pick, scratch, rive”).

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