riven

[riv-uh n] /ˈrɪv ən/
verb
1.
a past participle of rive.
adjective
2.
rent or split apart.
3.
split radially, as a log.
Related forms
unriven, adjective

rive

[rahyv] /raɪv/
verb (used with object), rived, rived or riven, riving.
1.
to tear or rend apart:
to rive meat from a bone.
2.
to separate by striking; split; cleave.
3.
to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).
4.
to split (wood) radially from a log.
verb (used without object), rived, rived or riven, riving.
5.
to become rent or split apart:
stones that rive easily.
Origin
1225-75; Middle English riven < Old Norse rīfa to tear, split. See rift
Related forms
unrived, adjective
Examples from the web for riven
  • Lame duck president, deeply riven board, ridiculous faculty senate.
  • And yet, this comment made me think of the cochlear implant controversy that has riven the deaf community.
  • Amid this pressure the hacker underground, riven by squabbles and splits over personality and policy, has turned on itself.
  • In countries riven by conflict, little can be done to speed economic progress.
  • And for the time being the country's politics is not riven violently along sectarian lines.
  • But the revivalist movement is already riven by splits.
  • They may have boated on it, riven over it or lived on or near it.
  • Such houses employed closely-spaced logs or poles for their floors, and split or riven boards for the roof covering.
  • On the interior of the closet one can see riven laths with wrought lath nails.
  • Forty-inch knee walls in the attic are constructed of triangular riven studs and fastened to the rafters with wrought nails.
British Dictionary definitions for riven

rive

/raɪv/
verb (usually passive) rives, riving, rived, rived, riven (ˈrɪvən)
1.
to split asunder: a tree riven by lightning
2.
to tear apart: riven to shreds
3.
(archaic) to break (the heart) or (of the heart) to be broken
Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse rīfa; related to Old Frisian rīva
Word Origin and History for riven
adj.

"split, cloven, rent," c.1300, past participle adjective from rive "to tear, rend."

rive

v.

"tear in pieces, strike asunder," c.1200, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse rifa "to tear apart" (cf. Swedish rifva, Danish rive "scratch, tear"), from PIE root *rei- "to scratch, tear, cut" (see riparian).