Library / English Dictionary

FISSURE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(anatomy) a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ into lobes

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

groove; vallecula ((anatomy) any furrow or channel on a bodily structure or part)

Domain category:

anatomy; general anatomy (the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fissure"):

sulcus ((anatomy) any of the narrow grooves in an organ or tissue especially those that mark the convolutions on the surface of the brain)

hilum; hilus ((anatomy) a depression or fissure where vessels or nerves or ducts enter a bodily organ)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A long narrow opening

Synonyms:

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

gap; opening (an open or empty space in or between things)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fissure"):

chap (a crack in a lip caused usually by cold)

chink (a narrow opening as e.g. between planks in a wall)

crevasse (a deep fissure)

fatigue crack (a crack in metal resulting from metal fatigue)

break; fault; faulting; fracture; geological fault; shift ((geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other)

rift (a narrow fissure in rock)

slit (a narrow fissure)

split (a lengthwise crack in wood)

vent; volcano (a fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt)

Derivation:

fissure (break into fissures or fine cracks)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A long narrow depression in a surface

Synonyms:

chap; crack; cranny; crevice; fissure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("fissure" is a kind of...):

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Derivation:

fissure (break into fissures or fine cracks)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Break into fissures or fine cracks

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "fissure" is one way to...):

crack (cause to become cracked)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

fissure (a long narrow opening)

fissure (a long narrow depression in a surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The smallest lobe of the right lung, situated above the oblique fissure and below the horizontal fissure.

(Middle Lobe of the Right Lung, NCI Thesaurus)

There are diamond-like plates formed in the skin which are separated by fissures.

(Harlequin Ichthyosis, NCI Thesaurus)

A header term that encompasses the various cerebral fissure terms.

(Cerebral Fissure, NCI Thesaurus)

A break or fissure in a structure.

(Crack, NCI Thesaurus)

The anterior portion of a deep fissure or furrow on the medial surface of the cerebral cortex.

(Anterior Part of the Calcarine Fissure, NCI Thesaurus)

A fissure in the midline of the anterior surface of the spinal cord.

(Anterior Median Fissure of the Spinal Cord, NCI Thesaurus)

The wear and tear of spring storms and melting snows had underwashed the bank and in one place had made a small cave out of a narrow fissure.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

An assistant professor of physics at Syracuse University is studying these materials, searching for the defects in each that produce a crack-like fissure called a shear band.

(Materials, like metallic glass, can help us understand how cells break, NSF)

All three events, including the largest, most powerful eruption of the trio on Aug. 29, 2013, were likely characterized by curtains of fire as lava blasted out of fissures perhaps several miles long.

(A Hellacious Two Weeks on Jupiter's Moon Io, NASA)

Until the latest spectacular eruption opened up fissures on the flank of the volcano, Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii held a vast lava lake in its summit crater.

(Size matters: if you are a bubble of volcanic gas, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)