# rend

Pronunciation: US say "REND" /ɹɛnd/; UK

## Verb

1. To tear or split something apart, or wrench it away, with sudden violent force; also, of a thing, to tear or split apart under strain.
   - Simple: To tear or rip something apart, or off, very violently. Or to tear apart by itself.
   - _The explosion rent the building's facade from top to bottom._
   - _Powerful currents can rend a wooden hull along its seams._
2. To violently disturb the peace of a place or group, throwing it into turmoil.
   - Simple: To suddenly destroy the calm of a place and throw it into trouble.
   - _Civil war rent the nation, turning neighbors against one another._
   - _Bitter disputes can rend even the closest communities._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The act of tearing something violently apart; a violent separation of parts.

## Origin

Proto-West Germanic *(h)randijan ("to tear"), whose origin is uncertain, gave Old English rendan, meaning "to rend, tear, cut, lacerate," and then Middle English renden. One view holds that it is a causative form of *hrindaną, a Proto-Germanic verb meaning "to push," which would connect it with Old English hrindan ("to thrust, push").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/rend (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).