rend

/ɹɛnd/

rend verb: to separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst.

Verb

rend (third-person singular simple present rends, present participle rending, simple past and past participle rent or rended)

(transitive) To separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst.
- Powder rends a rock in blasting.
- Lightning rends an oak.
(figuratively, transitive) To violently disturb the peace of; to throw into chaos.
- a scream that rent the air
- We are most vulnerable now to the messages of the new subcults, to the claims and counterclaims that rend the air.1970, Alvin Toffler, Future Shock: Bantam Books, page 317
(transitive) To part or tear off forcibly; to take away by force; to amputate.
- A time to rent, and a time to sow: a time to keepe silence, and a time to speake.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 3:7
- And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 2:12
(intransitive) To be rent or torn; to become parted; to separate; to split.
- Relationships may rend if tempers flare.
Synonyms:

rive

Noun

rend (plural rends)

A violent separation of parts.
- She'd been in a couple of minor car accidents herself, and witnessed a few others, and the rend of metal was unforgettable.2002, John S. Anderson, A Daughter of Light, page xvi

rend meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Telugu

rend in Tamil

கிழி, பிள, உடை, பிய், கீறு, வேதனைப்படுத்து

rend in Telugu

to rend, tear: చీరు cīru

More languagesFewer languages

rend in Malayalam: കീറിക്കളയുക, വേർപെടുത്തുക, പിച്ചിച്ചീന്തുക
rend in Kannada: ಉಗಿ, ಹೀಜು, ಹರಿ, ಸಿಗಿ
rend in Sanskrit: दृणाति dṛṇāti

Synonyms of rend

rive

Forms of rend

Verb
third-person singular present	rends
present participle	rending
past participle	rent
past	rent
past participle	rended
past	rended
Noun
plural	rends

Past tense of rend: rent or rended

Origin of rend

From Middle English renden, from Old English rendan (“to rend, tear, cut, lacerate, cut down”), from Proto-West Germanic *(h)randijan (“to tear”), of uncertain origin. Believed by some to be the causative of Proto-Germanic *hrindaną (“to push”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱret-, *kret- (“to hit, beat”), which would make it related to Old English hrindan (“to thrust, push”). Cognate with Scots rent (“to rend, tear”), Old Frisian renda (“to tear”).

Words formed from rend

Words that rhyme with rend

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about rend

What does rend mean?: Rend means to separate into parts with force or sudden violence; to split; to burst.
What is rend in Hindi?: Rend in Hindi is फाड़ना (phāṛnā). See Rend meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is rend?: Rend can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce rend?: Rend is pronounced /ɹɛnd/.
What is the past tense of rend?: The past tense of rend is rent.

Words near rend in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: rend (page history and authors); फाड़ना (Hindi) (page history and authors); rend (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rend (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); చీరు (Telugu) (page history and authors); rend (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rend (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rend.wav.

Cite this entry: “rend.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rend. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.