rend
/rɛnd
/verb (past and past participle rent /rɛnt/) [with object]
1Tear (something) into pieces: snapping teeth that would rend human flesh to shreds figurative the speculation and confusion which was rending the civilized world...
- She had the scars to prove that they had learned the hard way how easily a dragon's claws could rend human flesh.
- These missiles locked onto their targets and streaked unerringly through space, determined to rend metal and flesh.
- Our flag is no piece of sheeting for authoritarians to hide behind as they rend our hard-won liberties in the name of ‘protecting’ us from a dangerous world.
Synonyms
tear/rip apart, tear/rip in two, tear/rip to pieces, split, rupture, sever, separate
literary cleave, tear/rip asunder, sunder, rive
rare dissever
1.1 [with object and adverbial of direction] archaic Wrench (something) violently: he rent the branch out of the tree
1.2 literary Cause great emotional pain to: you tell me this in order to make me able to betray you without rending my heart...
- But nothing prepared me for the aggregate loss, when each problem list and interesting case turns out to be your neighbor and friend, and every final parting rends you where the heart resides.
- There are plenty of factual accounts in Bringing them Home which rend the heart.
Phrases
rend the air
rend one's garments (or hair)
Origin
Old English rendan; related to Middle Low German rende.