[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

rift \rift\, n. written also reft. dan. rift, fr. rieve to
   rend. see rive.
   1. an opening made by riving or splitting; a cleft; a
      fissure. --spenser.
      1913 webster

   2. a shallow place in a stream; a ford.
      1913 webster
see also:
reft rive 

[2] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

rift \rift\, v. t. imp.  p. p. rifted; p. pr.  vb. n.
   rifting.
   to cleave; to rive; to split; as, to rift an oak or a rock;
   to rift the clouds. --longfellow.
   1913 webster

         to dwell these rifted rocks between.     --wordsworth.
   1913 webster
see also:
rifted rifting 

[3] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

rift \rift\, v. i.
   1. to burst open; to split. --shak.
      1913 webster

            timber . . . not apt to rif with ordnance. --bacon.
      1913 webster

   2. to belch. prov. eng.  scot.
      1913 webster

[4] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

rift \rift\, obs.
   p. p. of rive. --spenser.
   1913 webster
see also:
rive 

[5] : WordNet (r) 2.0

rift
     n 1: a gap between cloud masses; "the sun shone through a rift in
          the clouds"
     2: a narrow fissure in rock
     3: a personal or social separation as between opposing
        factions; "they hoped to avoid a break in relations"
        syn: rupture, breach, break, severance, falling
        out
see also:
rupture breach break severance falling out 

[6] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

209 moby thesaurus words for "rift":
   abysm, abyss, alienation, arroyo, birthmark, blackhead, bleb,
   blemish, blister, box canyon, breach, breach of friendship, break,
   breakage, broach, bug, bulla, burst, canyon, catch, cavity, chap,
   chasm, check, chimney, chink, chinky, chip, cicatrix, cleavage,
   cleave, cleft, cleuch, clough, cloven, col, comedo, conflict,
   coulee, couloir, crack, cracked, cranny, crater, craze, crevasse,
   crevice, cut, cut open, cwm, defacement, defect, defection,
   deficiency, defile, deformation, deformity, dehiscent, dell,
   difference, dike, disaffection, disagreement, disfavor,
   disfiguration, disfigurement, dispart, disruption, distance,
   distortion, disunion, disunity, ditch, divaricate, divergence,
   divide, dividedness, division, donga, draw, drawback, estrangement,
   excavation, failing, failure, falling-out, fault, faute, fissure,
   fissured, fissury, flaw, flume, fly open, foible, fracture,
   frailty, freckle, furrow, gap, gape, gaping, gappy, gash, gorge,
   groove, gulch, gulf, gully, hemangioma, hiatus, hickey, hole,
   imperfection, inadequacy, incise, incision, infirmity,
   interruption, interval, joint, keloid, kink, kloof, lay open, leak,
   lentigo, little problem, milium, moat, mole, needle scar, nevus,
   notch, nullah, ope, open, open rupture, open up, opening, part,
   pass, passage, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, port-wine mark,
   port-wine stain, problem, pustule, ravine, recall of ambassadors,
   rent, rime, rimose, rimulose, rip, rive, rupture, scab, scale,
   scar, schism, scissure, scratch, seam, sebaceous cyst, separate,
   separation, shortcoming, slash, slice, slit, slot, snag,
   something missing, splinter, split, spread, spread out,
   spring open, strawberry mark, sty, swing open, taint, tap, tear,
   tear open, throw open, track, trench, twist, valley, verruca,
   vesicle, void, vulnerable place, wadi, wale, warp, wart, weak link,
   weak point, weakness, weal, welt, wen, whitehead

Rift >> R Words
Rift, definition of term: Rift
rift_pag1.html

Rift Valley >> R Words
Rift Valley, definition of term: Rift Valley
rift+valley_pag1.html