rending

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.

rend

(rĕnd)

v. rent (rĕnt) also rend·ed, rend·ing, rends

v.tr.

a. To tear or split apart or into pieces violently. See Synonyms at tear¹.

b. To tear (one's garments or hair) in anguish or rage.

2. To pull away forcibly; wrest: rent the money from his hand.

a. To pull, split, or divide: "Chip was rent between the impulse to laugh wildly and a bitterness that threatened hot tears" (Louis Auchincloss).

b. To pierce or disturb with sound: a scream rent the silence.

c. To cause pain or distress to: tales that rend the heart.

v.intr.

To become torn or split; come apart: a hole where the seam rends.

[Middle English renden, from Old English rendan.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Adj.

rending - resembling a sound of violent tearing as of something ripped apart or lightning splitting a tree; "the tree split with a great ripping sound"; "heard a rending roar as the crowd surged forward"

ripping, splitting

cacophonic, cacophonous - having an unpleasant sound; "as cacophonous as a henyard"- John McCarten

References in classic literature ?

Thou who all mankind viewedst-- So God, as sheep--: The God TO REND within mankind, As the sheep in mankind, And in rending LAUGHING--

View in context

At the same moment there rose from the house a rending, crashing sound of woodwork, broken or thrown about, mixed with a quick scream so appalling that Adam, stout of heart as he undoubtedly was, felt his blood turn into ice.

View in context

In the next they heard a harsh tearing noise, as of something rending the silk, and the car seemed to sink from beneath the feet of our three aeronauts.