different between ravine vs cleft

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French ravin (“a gully”), from Old French raviner (“to pillage, sweep down, cascade”), from ravine (“robbery, rapine; violent rush of water, waterfall, avalanche; impetuosity, spirit”), from Latin rap?na (cf. rapine).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?-v?n?, IPA^(key): /???vi?n/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Noun

ravine (plural ravines)

1. A deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water.

Derived terms

• ravine-buck
• ravined
• ravine-deer

Related terms

• ravinement

Translations

See also

• canyon
• gorge
• gulley, gully
• valley

Etymology 2

From Middle English ravene, ravine, from Old French raviner (“rush, seize by force”), itself from ravine (“rapine”), from Latin rap?na (“plundering, loot”), itself from rapere (“seize, plunder, abduct”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æv?n/

Noun

ravine (plural ravines)

1. (archaic) Alternative form of raven (“rapine, rapacity; prey, plunder”)
   • 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.:

     And he, shall he,
     Man, her last work, who seem’d so fair, […]
     Who trusted God was love indeed
     And love Creation’s final law—
     Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw
     With ravine, shriek’d against his creed—
     Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills,
     Who battled for the True, the Just,
     Be blown about the desert dust,
     Or seal’d within the iron hills?

Further reading

• ravine on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• ravines on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• ravine at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Averni, Erivan, naiver, naïver, vainer

French

Etymology

From the Old French verb raviner (“flow with force; sweep down; pillage, cascade”), or from the noun ravine, raveine (“robbery, rapine; violent rush of water, waterfall, avalanche; impetuosity, spirit”), from Latin rap?na. Doublet of rapine, a borrowing from the same Latin term.

Pronunciation

• Homophones: ravinent, ravines

Noun

ravine f (plural ravines)

1. A small ravine or gully.
2. Beginning of a furrowing or formation of a ravine.

Related terms

• ravin
• raviner
• ravinement

Verb

ravine

1. first-person singular present indicative of raviner
2. third-person singular present indicative of raviner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of raviner
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of raviner
5. second-person singular imperative of raviner

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French ravine, from Latin rap?na.

Noun

ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural raviner, definite plural ravinene)

1. gully (type of ravine)

References

• “ravine” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “ravine” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French ravine, from Latin rap?na.

Noun

ravine m (definite singular ravinen, indefinite plural ravinar, definite plural ravinane)

1. gully (type of ravine)

References

• “ravine” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?ft/
• Rhymes: -?ft

Etymology 1

From Middle English clift, from Old English ?eclyft, from Proto-Germanic *(ga)kluftiz. Compare Dutch klucht (“chaotic”), Swedish klyft (“cave, den”) cave, den, German Kluft. See cleave.

Noun

cleft (plural clefts)

1. An opening, fissure, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came”, XXVI:

     Then came some palsied oak, a cleft in him / Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim / Gaping at death, and dies while it recoils.

2. A piece made by splitting.

   a cleft of wood

3. A disease of horses; a crack on the band of the pastern.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• dimple

Verb

cleft (third-person singular simple present clefts, present participle clefting, simple past and past participle clefted)

1. (linguistics) To syntactically separate a prominent constituent from the rest of the clause that concerns it, such as threat in "The threat which I saw but which he didn't see, was his downfall."

Related terms

• clefting
• cleft sentence

Etymology 2

Verb

cleft

1. simple past tense and past participle of cleave

Adjective

cleft (not comparable)

1. split, divided, or partially divided into two.

   Synonym: cloven

Translations