cleavage
cleavage Lexical Profile
cleavage Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The hollow or cleft between a woman's breasts, especially as exposed by a low-cut garment.
"The evening gown featured a plunged neckline that revealed a hint of cleavage."
A sharp division, split, or rift, especially in social, political, or ideological spheres.
"Economic inequality has created a deep cleavage between urban and rural voters."
The tendency of a crystalline mineral or rock to split along definite structural planes, or the series of cell divisions in a fertilized ovum.
"Mica exhibits perfect basal cleavage, allowing it to be peeled into paper-thin sheets."
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 19th century from the verb 'cleave' (from Old English 'cleofan', meaning to split or separate) and the noun suffix '-age'. Originally used in geology to describe how minerals split along crystal planes, it acquired its anatomical sense in the mid-20th century.