cleave

/kli:v/

Thân thiện

The lumberjack cleaves the log with a heavy axe.

Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To split or sever something, especially along a natural line or grain, with force or a sharp instrument: This meaning describes the action of dividing something solid, often wood or stone, into parts.
   • To make by or as if by cutting: This describes creating a path or opening through something by forceful division.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly: This meaning describes sticking tightly to something or being devoted to a principle, person, or group. It is often followed by "to".
   • To split, especially along a natural line: This describes the property of a material to divide easily.

Usage and Examples

• Verb (transitive) - To split or cut:

  • The butcher will cleave the bone with a heavy axe.
  • Lightning cleaved the old tree in two.
  • With a single blow, he cleft the log.

• Verb (transitive) - To make by cutting:

  • The ship's prow cleaves a path through the ice.
  • Over millennia, the river cleaved a deep canyon through the rock.

• Verb (intransitive) - To adhere or be devoted (cleave to):

  • The child cleaved to her mother in the crowded market.
  • He cleaves to the belief that honesty is always the best policy.
  • The wet shirt cleaved to his skin.

• Verb (intransitive) - To split easily:

  • This type of sandstone cleaves smoothly, making it ideal for building.

Advanced Usage and Notes

• Contranym: "Cleave" is a contranym (auto-antonym), a word with two opposite meanings: to split apart and to cling together. Context is crucial for understanding.
• Past Tense Forms: The verb has multiple accepted past tense and participle forms, which often correlate with its different meanings:
  • For "to split": cleaved, clove, cleft. The past participle is often cleft or cloven.
  • For "to adhere": cleaved is almost always used.
  • Example: He cleft the wood with an axe. The wood was cleft in two. / She has cleaved to her ideals her whole life.

Variants and Related Words

• Cleft (adj & n): Split, divided. Also refers to a split or indentation.
  • He has a cleft chin. / A deep cleft appeared in the glacier.
• Cloven (adj): Split, divided (often used for hooves).
  • The goat had cloven hooves.
• Cleaver (n): A heavy, broad-bladed knife used for chopping, especially by butchers.
• Cleavage (n): The act of splitting or the state of being split. Also refers to a division or a sharp indentation.

Synonyms

• For "to split": Split, sever, rend, rive, hew, chop, sunder.
• For "to adhere": Adhere, cling, stick, hold, bond, be devoted.

Phrasal Verbs / Constructions

• Cleave to: This is the standard construction for the "adhere/be devoted" meaning.
  • Despite the challenges, they cleaved to their original plan.
  • The ivy cleaves to the brick wall.

Idioms and Phrases

• To show the cloven hoof/foot: To reveal a devilish or evil nature (from the traditional depiction of the devil having cloven hooves).
  • His cruel remarks finally showed the cloven hoof.
• In a cleft stick: In a difficult situation where one is trapped between two equally bad options.
  • The new evidence put the prosecutor in a cleft stick.

Học thuật

Verb

1. come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
   • The dress clings to her body
   • The label stuck to the box
   • The sushi rice grains cohere
2. make by cutting into
   • The water is going to cleave a channel into the rock
3. separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
   • cleave the bone

Từ đồng nghĩa

• cling
• adhere
• stick
• cohere
• split
• rive