rending

rend  (rnd)

v. rent (rnt) or rend·ed, rend·ing, rends

v.tr.

1. To tear or split apart or into pieces violently. See Synonyms at tear¹.

2. To tear (one's garments or hair) in anguish or rage.

3. To tear away forcibly; wrest.

4. To pull, split, or divide as if by tearing: "Chip was rent between the impulse to laugh wildly and a bitterness that threatened hot tears" (Louis Auchincloss).

5. To pierce or disturb with sound: a scream rent the silence.

6. To cause pain or distress to: tales that rend the heart.

v.intr.

To become torn or split; come apart.

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[Middle English renden, from Old English rendan.]

Thesaurus

Adj.

1.

rending - resembling a sound of violent tearing as of something ripped apart or lightning splitting a tree; "the tree split with a great ripping sound"; "heard a rending roar as the crowd surged forward" ripping, splitting cacophonic, cacophonous - having an unpleasant sound; "as cacophonous as a henyard"- John McCarten