fissure
UK /ˈfɪʃ.ə/ · US /ˈfɪʃ.ɚ/ noun, verb
Forms fissures fissuring fissured
- noun A long, narrow crack or opening made by breaking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.
- noun (anatomy) A groove, deep furrow, elongated cleft or tear between body parts or in the substance of an organ.
- noun (anatomy) A break or slit in tissue usually at the junction of skin and mucous membrane.
- noun A state of incompatibility or disagreement.
- verb To split, forming fissures.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fissure, from Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra (“a cleft, chink”), from findō (“to cleave, split, divide”) + -tūra (nominal suffix).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A narrow opening, made by the parting of any substance; a cleft; as, the fissure of a rock. Cerebral fissures (Anat.), the furrows or clefts by which the surface of the cerebrum is divided; esp., the furrows first formed by the infolding of the whole wall of the cerebrum.
- verb To cleave; to divide; to crack or fracture.
Etymology [L. fissura, fr. findere, fissum, to cleave, split; akin to E. bite: cf. F. fissure.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fissure”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details