cleavage Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the state of being split or cleft
    • there was a cleavage between the liberal and conservative members
  2. noun the breaking of a chemical bond in a molecule resulting in smaller molecules
  3. noun (embryology) the repeated division of a fertilised ovum
    segmentation.
  4. noun the line formed by a groove between two parts (especially the separation between a woman's breasts)
  5. noun the act of cleaving or splitting

WordNet

Cleav"age noun
Definitions
  1. The act of cleaving or splitting.
  2. (Crystallog.) The quality possessed by many crystallized substances of splitting readily in one or more definite directions, in which the cohesive attraction is a minimum, affording more or less smooth surfaces; the direction of the dividing plane; a fragment obtained by cleaving, as of a diamond. See Parting.
  3. (Geol.) Division into laminæ, like slate, with the lamination not necessarily parallel to the plane of deposition; -- usually produced by pressure.

Webster 1913