: the quality of a crystallized substance or rock of splitting along definite planes
also: the occurrence of such splitting
b
: a fragment (as of a diamond) obtained by splitting
2
: the action of cleaving or splitting : the state of being cleft
3
: the series of synchronized mitotic cell divisions of a fertilized egg that results in the formation of the blastomeres and changes the single-celled zygote into a multicellular embryo
also: one of these cell divisions
4
: the splitting of a molecule into simpler molecules
5
: the depression between a woman's breasts especially when made visible by a low-cut neckline
The dress is cut low enough to reveal a lot of cleavage. the cleavage between the rich and poor the cleavages of an egg as an embryo develops
Recent Examples on the WebThe first two wear bikinis, tug the tops to get their cleavage just right. Lesley Finn, Longreads, 7 July 2022 To ban or forbid bars and restaurants from existing, based solely on the concept that women’s legs, arms and cleavage will be on show, would leave much of the western world’s city centres empty. Lela London, Forbes, 17 June 2022 His latest subjects are composites caught between identities: a Black man in a cowboy hat sprouting extra white limbs, an androgynous figure in a bold red suit prodding their chest into cleavage, John F. Kennedy in football pads.New York Times, 19 May 2022 He has also recently been criticized for initiating a private talk with a judge in a city case and instituting a dress code that polices cleavage and skirt length. Alison Dirr, Journal Sentinel, 8 June 2022 Since the 1980s, billboards have gone up on the Sunset Strip, La Brea Avenue and other famed corridors advertising Angelyne’s name, canyon-like cleavage and phone number.Los Angeles Times, 19 May 2022 In his speech to the Russian nation on Monday, President Vladimir V. Putin buoyed his case for codifying the cleavage of two rebel territories from Ukraine by arguing that the very idea of Ukrainian statehood was a fiction.New York Times, 21 Feb. 2022 The enzyme that causes the cleavage derives from the host cell.WSJ, 12 Oct. 2021 The other photos were of my husband’s buxom cousin in her revealing cleavage. Amy Dickinson, oregonlive, 18 June 2022 See More