cleave
[verb]
Synonyms: stick, adhere, cling, cohere
[verb]
Synonyms: cut, carve, dissect, dissever, sever, slice, split, sunder, tear, rend, rip, rive

---

Contrasted words: alienate, disaffect, disunite, estrange, separate, join, link, unite, attach, fasten
Related Words: associate, combine, conjoin, join, link, unite, divide, divorce, separate, chop, hew

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

cleave /kliːv/ verb (past tense cleaved, clove /kləʊv $ kloʊv/ or cleft /kleft/, past participle cleaved, cloven /ˈkləʊvən $ ˈkloʊ-/ or cleft)
[Language: Old English; Origin: cleofan. cleave to Old English clifian]

1. [I, T always + adv/prep] literary to cut something into separate parts using a heavy tool, or to be able to be cut in this way:
The wooden door had been cleft in two.

2. [transitive] formal to divide something into two completely separate parts:
the racial problems that still cleave American society

3. cleave the air/darkness etc literary to move quickly through the air etc:
His fist cleft the air.
cleave to somebody/something phrasal verb

1. formal to continue to think that a method, belief, person etc is true or valuable, even when this seems unlikely:
John still cleaves to his romantic ideals.

2. literary to stick to someone or something, or seem to surround them

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲