riven means torn apart. It carries an Arena rating of 1661, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, riven ranks #1,120 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,230 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,472 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,330 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
riven is pronounced /ˈɹɪvən/.
Why “riven” is a great word
Torn apart or split asunder. From Middle English riven, the past participle of riven ("to rive"), from Old Norse rífa ("to tear apart, rend"). Unlike "cleaved" (which implies a clean, forceful split along a natural plane) or "fractured" (which describes a break into pieces with connotations of damage), riven suggests a violent, ragged tearing—often by internal or elemental force. It is the jagged seam of a lightning-struck oak, the salt-sting of a wound pried open by grief, the dry, splintered earth of a drought-starved field. It speaks not of a clean break, but of a lingering rent in the very fabric of things.
Etymology
From Middle English riven, past participle of rive (“to rive”). Compare Old Norse rifinn, past participle of Old Norse rífa (“to pick, scratch, rive”).
adj
- Torn apart.
- Broken into pieces; split asunder.e.g.““She shall be blasted like a riven oak! Drowned in sulphur! Torn by whirlwinds!”” — 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 68:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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