Cleavage

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkliː.vɪd͡ʒ/

Definitions

1. The act or process of splitting or dividing something into parts ; the visible gap or hollow between a woman's breasts as seen through clothing
2. A separation or distinct split, especially in a physical or geological context ; the area between the breasts that shows skin due to cleavage in clothing
3. The action of dividing into sections or layers, often used in scientific or geological contexts ; the narrow opening or space between a woman's breasts accentuated by certain garments

Etymology: The word is built from "cleave" plus the suffix "-age," and the two halves have quite different histories. "Cleave" is an old word with two opposite meanings: it can mean to split apart, and it can mean to stick fast to something. That split is inherited from separate Old English verbs that happened to fall together in form, and it is why a single word can describe both a crack in a rock and a bond between people. The suffix "-age" came into English from Old French, where it had passed down from Latin "-aticum," a noun-forming ending that turned verbs into nouns for an action, a process, or the result of one. English already had many words of this pattern, such as "passage" and "breakage," so "cleavage" follows an established model. Its literal sense is the act or result of splitting, and the meaning of a gap or division between two parts is a later extension of that.

Synonyms: fissure, split, separation

Antonyms: union, joining