cleavage

[ klee-vij ]

noun

1. the act of cleaving cleave or splitting.
2. the state of being cleft. cleave. cleft.
3. the area between a woman's breasts, especially when revealed by a low-cut neckline.
4. a critical division in opinion, beliefs, interests, etc., as leading to opposition between two groups:

   a growing cleavage between the Conservative and Liberal wings of the party.

5. the tendency of crystals, certain minerals, rocks, etc., to break in preferred directions so as to yield more or less smooth surfaces cleavageplanes.
6. Embryology. the total or partial division of the egg into smaller cells or blastomeres.
7. Also called scission. Chemistry. the breaking down of a molecule or compound into simpler structures.

cleavage

/ ˈkliːvɪdʒ /

noun

1. informal.
   the separation between a woman's breasts, esp as revealed by a low-cut dress
2. a division or split
3. (of crystals) the act of splitting or the tendency to split along definite planes so as to yield smooth surfaces
4. Also calledsegmentation embryol (in animals) the repeated division of a fertilized ovum into a solid ball of cells (a morula), which later becomes hollow (a blastula)
5. the breaking of a chemical bond in a molecule to give smaller molecules or radicals
6. geology the natural splitting of certain rocks, or minerals such as slates, or micas along the planes of weakness

cleavage

/ klē′vĭj /

1. Geology.
   The breaking of certain minerals along specific planes, making smooth surfaces. These surfaces are parallel to the faces of the molecular crystals that make up the minerals. A mineral that exhibits cleavage breaks into smooth pieces with the same pattern of parallel surfaces regardless of how many times it is broken. Some minerals, like quartz, do not have a cleavage and break into uneven pieces with rough surfaces.
2. Biology.
   1. The series of mitotic cell divisions by which a single fertilized egg cell becomes a many-celled blastula. Each division produces cells half the size of the parent cell.
   2. Any of the single cell divisions in such a series.

cleavage

1. The process by which an animal cell divides into two daughter cells after mitosis . In an embryo , this process is repeated many times and leads to the formation of the blastula .

Word History and Origins

Origin of cleavage¹

First recorded in 1810–20; cleave ² + -age

Example Sentences

The homeowner-renter divide was the survey’s most significant social cleavage in attitudes toward the construction of affordable housing, rent control and universal basic income, mattering more than differences in race, income and education.

From Los Angeles Times

So, when we talk about class politics, analysts on the left are quick to point to trends in income and voting, which seemingly deny the existence of a class cleavage.

From Salon

It was a racy variation on a schoolboy’s shorts, with suspenders rising between the cleavage.

From Los Angeles Times

“There are toxic cleavages and an incipient social fragmentation that can easily turn into instability.”

From BBC

He posed for countless pictures and even scrawled his name on a woman's top, just below her cleavage.

From BBC

Related Words

• chasm
• rift
• schism