rift / rift/ • n. a crack, split, or break in something: the wind had torn open a rift in the clouds. ∎  Geol. a major fault separating blocks of the earth's surface; a rift valley. ∎ fig. a serious break in friendly relations: their demise caused a rift between the city's town and gown.• v. [intr.] chiefly Geol. form fissures, cracks, or breaks, esp. through large-scale faulting; move apart: a fragment of continental crust that rifted away from eastern Australia | [as n.] (rifting) active rifting in southwestern Mexico. ∎  [tr.] [usu. as adj.] (rifted) tear or force (something) apart: the nascent rifted margins of the Red Sea.

Rift ★½ 1996

Bland romantic triangle set among Manhattan twentysomethings. Shy Tom (Sage) pines for Lisa (Bransford), the wife of his best friend, Bill (Cavanaugh). In fact, Tom begins having overwhelming nightmares, involving murder, about the situation. Not that you'll care since Tom is a mope, Lisa's a whiner, and Bill's a nasty-tempered bore. 87m/C VHS . William Sage, Timothy Cavanaugh, Jennifer Bransford, Alan Davidson; D: Edward S. Barkin; W: Edward S. Barkin; C: Lee Daniel.

rift
1. A breach or split between two bodies that were once joined. See RIFT VALLEY.

2. In quarrying, a split in granite, whose plane is oblique or perpendicular to the sheeting.

rift †rending, splitting XIII; cleft, fissure XIV. of Scand. orig. (cf. Norw., Da. rift cleft, chink); rel. to RIVE.