rend

Plural: rends

Verb

Verb Forms: rent, rended, rending, rends

To tear apart violently; to split or rip.
tear or be torn violently
To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst.
To violently disturb the peace of; to throw into chaos.
To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate.
To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.

Noun

A violent separation of parts.

Examples

a scream that rent the air
Lightning rends an oak.
My opponent’s challenge threatened to REND my carefully constructed word into pieces.
Powder rends a rock in blasting.
Relationships may rend if tempers flare.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan (“to rend, tear, cut, lacerate, cut down”), from Proto-West Germanic *(h)randijan (“to tear”), of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causative of Proto-Germanic *hrindaną (“to push”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret- (“to hit, beat”), which would make it related to Old English hrindan (“to thrust, push”). Cognate with Scots rent (“to rend, tear”), Old Frisian renda (“to tear”).

Synonyms

pull, rip, rive

Scrabble Score: 5

rend: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
rend: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
rend: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

rend: valid Words With Friends Word