Cleave vs Smash - What's the difference?
cleave | smash |
To split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument.
* Shakespeare
(mineralogy) To break a single crystal (such as a gemstone or semiconductor wafer) along one of its more symmetrical crystallographic planes (often by impact), forming facets on the resulting pieces.
To make or accomplish by or as if by cutting.
(chemistry) To split (a complex molecule) into simpler molecules.
To split.
(mineralogy) Of a crystal, to split along a natural plane of division.
(technology) Flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass.
To cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto.
The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.
(British, colloquial) A traffic accident.
(colloquial, entertainment) Something very successful.
* 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]
(tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=July 3
, author=Piers Newbury
, title=Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final
, work=BBC Sport
(colloquial, archaic) bankruptcy
To break (something brittle) violently.
* 1895 , , (The Time Machine) , Chapter X
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To hit extremely hard.
(figuratively) To ruin completely and suddenly.
(figuratively) To defeat overwhelmingly.
(US) To deform through continuous pressure.
To be destroyed by being smashed.
(transitive, slang, vulgar, of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
In lang=en terms the difference between cleave and smash
is that cleave is to cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto while smash is to be destroyed by being smashed.As verbs the difference between cleave and smash
is that cleave is to split or sever something with, or as if with, a sharp instrument or cleave can be to cling, adhere or stick fast to something; used with to or unto while smash is to break (something brittle) violently.As nouns the difference between cleave and smash
is that cleave is (technology) flat, smooth surface produced by cleavage, or any similar surface produced by similar techniques, as in glass while smash is the sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.cleave
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) cleven, from the (etyl) strong verb .Verb
- The wings cleaved the foggy air.
- O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.
- The truck cleaved a path through the ice.
Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* (l)Etymology 2
From (etyl) cleofian, from (etyl) . Cognates include German kleben, Dutch kleven.Verb
(cleav)smash
English
Noun
(smashes)- I could hear the screech of the brakes, then the horrible smash of cars colliding.
- The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash .
- This new show of mine is sure to be a smash .
- Soundcheck for the band, today, takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It is late afternoon and while the arena's 17,000 outdoor seats are still empty the four members of Mumford & Sons – prospering British folk band, in the middle of a long tour of Australia, the US and the UK, their newly released album Babel a smash on all fronts – wander to centre stage.
- A smash may not be as pretty as a good half volley, but it can still win points.
citation, page= , passage=A Nadal forehand into the net gave Djokovic the set and the Spaniard appeared rattled, firing a smash over the baseline in a rare moment of promise at 30-30 at the start of the third.}}
Synonyms
* (sound of a violent impact ): crash * (colloquial: traffic accident ): crash * (colloquial: something very successful ): smash hitVerb
(es)- Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.
High and wet, passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.