1. divisions or splits between different groups, opinions, or social classes
2. the natural tendency of certain minerals or rocks to split along specific planes
Usage: geology
3. the process of cell division in early embryonic development
Usage: biology

Examples

• The political cleavages in the country became more pronounced during the election.
• Social cleavages often form along economic and cultural lines.
• The geologist studied the cleavages in the rock formation.
• Mica exhibits perfect cleavages in one direction.
• Early cleavages in the embryo determine cell fate.
• The crystal’s cleavages made it easy to split into thin sheets.