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Rift vs Crater - What's the difference?

rift | crater | Related terms |

Rift is a related term of crater.


As nouns the difference between rift and crater

is that rift is a chasm or fissure while crater is crater.

As a verb rift

is to form a or rift can be to belch or rift can be .

rift

English

(wikipedia rift)

Etymology 1

Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish/Norwegian '' 'breach', Old Norse ''rífa 'to tear'. More at rive.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A chasm or fissure.
    • My marriage is in trouble, the fight created a rift between us and we can't reconnect.
    The Grand Canyon is a rift in the Earth's surface, but is smaller than some of the undersea ones.
  • A break in the clouds, fog, mist etc., which allows light through.
  • * 1931 , William Faulkner, Sanctuary , Vintage 1993, page 130:
    • I have but one rift in the darkness, that is that I have injured no one save myself by my folly, and that the extent of that folly you will never learn.
  • A shallow place in a stream; a ford.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To form a .
  • To cleave; to rive; to split.
    • to rift an oak
  • * Wordsworth
    • To dwell these rifted rocks between.

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) rypta.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To belch.

    • Etymology 3

    Verb

    (head)
    • (Spenser)

    Anagrams

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    crater

    English

    Etymology 1

    First coined 1613, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (astronomy) A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
  • (geology) The basin-like opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a geyser, about which a cone of silica is often built up.
  • (informal) The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
  • (informal) Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
    • Synonyms
    * (astronomy) astrobleme * (geology) caldera

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To collapse catastrophically; implode; hollow out; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
    • The economy is about to crater . -- Attributed by David Letterman to Sen. John McCain. NYTimes blog
  • (snowboarding) To crash or fall.
    • He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.

    Etymology 2

    Possibly a diminutive of cratur (dialect form of creature ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Ireland, informal, UK, dialect) A term of endearment, a dote, a wretched thing.
    • 1843' - I then had the two best tarriers beneath the canopy; this poor '''crater is their daughter," and he patted the dog's head affectionately.
    William Hamilton Maxwell, '' Wild Sports of the West: With Legendary Tales, and Local Sketches     , Publisher R. Bentley, page 77,
    1859' - She is a charming ' crater ; I would venture to say that, if I was not her father.
    The British Drama: A Collection of the Most Esteemed Tragedies, Comedies ...
    1872 (Thomas Hardy) "Under the Greenwood Tree"
    "Then why not stop for fellow-craters -- going to thy own father's house too, as we be, and knowen us so well?"
    Usage notes
    This term is still commonly used in speech but rarely appears in modern writing. (craterin)

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