A cleft is a split or opening, especially one that occurs naturally. You might see a cleft in a rock face where water or ice carved a narrow gap over thousands of years. Some people have a cleft chin, that distinctive dimple right in the center of their chin that looks like a small vertical split.

The word often describes something that was divided or separated as it formed. Mountains can have clefts where glaciers once pushed through. Trees sometimes develop clefts in their trunks as they grow.

Cleft can also describe something that has been split: a cleft stick is one that's been cut partway through to create an opening.

The word carries a sense of something divided down the middle or through its length, creating a distinctive gap or separation that becomes part of the thing's character.