rend
Americanverb (used with object)
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to separate into parts with force or violence.
The storm rent the ship to pieces.
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to tear apart, split, or divide.
racial tension that is rending the nation.
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to pull or tear violently (often followed by away, off, up, etc.).
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to tear (one's garments or hair) in grief, rage, etc.
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to disturb (the air) sharply with loud noise.
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to harrow or distress (the heart) with painful feelings.
verb (used without object)
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to split or tear something.
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to become torn or split.
verb
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to tear with violent force or to be torn in this way; rip
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(tr) to tear or pull (one's clothes, etc), esp as a manifestation of rage or grief
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(tr) (of a noise or cry) to disturb (the air, silence, etc) with a shrill or piercing tone
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(tr) to pain or distress (the heart, conscience, etc)
Synonym Usage
See tear 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have rentperfect
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has rentperfect 3rd person singular
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are rendingprogressive
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have been rendingperfect progressive
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rendssingular 3rd person
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has been rendingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am rendingprogressive 1st person singular
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is rendingprogressive 3rd person singular
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rendingparticiple
Past
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had rentperfect
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was rendingprogressive singular
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had been rendingperfect progressive
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rentsimple
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rentparticiple
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were rendingprogressive plural
Future
Etymology
Origin of rend
First recorded before 950; Middle English renden, Old English rendan; cognate with Old Frisian renda
Explanation
The verb rend means to tear with force or violence, or into many pieces. Your parents won't be happy if your new kitten decides to rend their brand new curtains with her tiny claws. Tear, rip, and rend are all synonyms, but it's a question of degree. Of the three, rend implies the most violent separation. You can also use rend figuratively to express great emotional distress or to describe a sharp, piercing sound. If you're betrayed by a friend, it rends your heart right out of your chest.
Vocabulary lists containing rend
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"If global debt resumes its rising rend going forward, the debt rollercoaster since the pandemic will look nothing more than a temporary deviation around its long-term rising trend."
From Reuters • Sep. 13, 2023
And that remains its role now, as thousands of researchers join forces in a collective mission: to better know SARS-CoV-2 and to rend that virus’s complexities into a blueprint to plan its containment and control.
From Scientific American • Mar. 10, 2021
The loss of insects and arthropods could further rend the rain forest’s food web, Lister warned, causing plant species to go extinct without pollinators.
From Washington Post • Oct. 15, 2018
“I claw at the air, but my hands strike nothing; they rend no doorways to that golden isle. Absence. Isolation. I keen.”
From New York Times • Sep. 5, 2017
“Through here,” boomed Wednesday, and he led them through the only exit, formed to look like the gaping mouth of a huge monster, its sharp teeth ready to rend them all to slivers.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
