cleft
- 01 C1 Advanced
n.a narrow opening or crack, especially in a rock or the ground.
n.a fissure, crack, or V-shaped indentation made by or as if by splitting.
Simple“The small plant grew out of a cleft in the giant rock.”
In context“The climbers sought refuge in a narrow cleft in the cliff face as the sudden storm broke over the ridge.”
- 02 C1 Advanced
adj.divided or split into two parts.
adj.split, divided, or partially divided into two distinct sections.
Simple“Some animals, like cows and goats, have cleft hooves.”
In context“The surgeon explained the procedure to repair the cleft palate, noting the importance of early intervention for speech development.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
v.to change a sentence to focus on one part, like saying 'It was him who did it' instead of 'He did it'.
v.to syntactically divide a clause into two parts to give focus to a specific constituent, typically using an 'it-cleft' or 'wh-cleft' structure.
Simple“In the sentence 'It was the rain that stopped us', the speaker used a cleft to focus on the cause.”
In context“The author frequently employs cleft sentences to emphasize the agency of his protagonists within the complex narrative structure.”
From Middle English clift, from Old English ġeclyft, from Proto-West Germanic klufti, from Proto-Germanic kluftiz, equivalent to cleave + -t (“-th”). Compare Dutch klucht (“coarse comedy”), Swedish klyft (“cave, den”), German Kluft. See cleave.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.