1.  cleft(n = noun.shape) - a split or indentation in something (as the palate or chin);
is a kind of indentation, indenture
Derived forms verb cleave₁, verb cleave₂

2.  cleft(n = noun.object) crack, crevice, fissure, scissure - a long narrow opening;
is a kind of gap, opening
has particulars: chap, chink, crevasse, fatigue crack, break, fault, faulting, fracture, geological fault, shift, rift, slit, split, vent, volcano

   cleft(s = adj.all) dissected - having one or more incisions reaching nearly to the midrib;

   imp. & p. p. from Cleave. [1913 Webster]

1.  Divided; split; partly divided or split. [1913 Webster]

2.  Incised nearly to the midrib; as, a cleft leaf. [1913 Webster]

1.  A space or opening made by splitting; a crack; a crevice; as, the cleft of a rock. Is. ii. 21. [1913 Webster]

2.  A piece made by splitting; as, a cleft of wood. [1913 Webster]

3.  A disease in horses; a crack on the band of the pastern. [1913 Webster]

cleft, adj. split, partly divided.

Idiom:
cleft palate a congenital split in the roof of the mouth. in a cleft stick in a difficult position, esp. one allowing neither retreat nor advance.

cleft, n. a split or fissure; a space or division made by cleaving.

Etymology:
OE (rel. to CLEAVE(1)): assim. to CLEFT(1)

N  bisection, bipartition, dichotomy, subdichotomy, halving, dimidiation, bifurcation, forking, branching, ramification, divarication, fork, prong, fold, half, moiety, bisected, cloven, cleft, bipartite, biconjugate, bicuspid, bifid, bifurcous, bifurcate, bifurcated, distichous, dichotomous, furcular, semi-, demi-, hemi.

N  interval, interspace, separation, break, gap, opening, hole, chasm, hiatus, caesura, interruption, interregnum, interstice, lacuna, cleft, mesh, crevice, chink, rime, creek, cranny, crack, chap, slit, fissure, scissure, rift, flaw, breach, rent, gash, cut, leak, dike, ha-ha, gorge, defile, ravine, canon, crevasse, abyss, abysm, gulf, inlet, frith, strait, gully, pass, furrow, abra, barranca, barranco, clove, gulch, notch, yawning gulf, hiatus maxime, hiatus valde deflendus, parenthesis, void, incompleteness, period, interim (time), with an interval, far between, breachy, rimose, rimulose, at intervals, longo intervallo.

branchial cleft, cleft foot, cleft lip, cleft palate, gill cleft, pudendal cleft, urogenital cleft