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''riven'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

riven - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Verb

riven

  • past participle of rive

Adjective

riven (not comparable)

  • Torn apart.
  • Broken into pieces; split asunder.
    • ✤ “She shall be blasted like a riven oak! Drowned in sulphur! Torn by whirlwinds!”1

Etymology

From Middle English riven, past participle of rive (“to rive”). Compare Old Norse rifinn, past participle of Old Norse rífa (“to pick, scratch, rive”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA: /ˈɹɪvən/
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɪvən
  • Hyphenation: ri‧ven
  • Homophone: Ruthven (one pronunciation)

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 68: ↩

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