cleavage Hear it!

cleavage definition

cleav·age (klēv′ij)

noun

  1. a cleaving, splitting, or dividing
  2. the manner in which a thing splits
  3. a cleft; fissure; division
  4. the hollow between a woman's breasts, as made visible by a low-cut neckline
  5. Biol.
    1. cell division, esp. the series of mitotic cell divisions that transform the fertilized ovum into the earliest embryonic stage
    2. any single division in this series
  6. Mineralogy the tendency of some minerals to break in definite planes, producing smooth surfaces

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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