How to Use rend in a Sentence

rend

verb
  • They rent the cloth to shreds.
  • Metal hooks linked to chains obey Pinhead's commands and rend the flesh from his victims!
    — Steven Thrash, EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023
  • The cuts will rend apart the truss section and send the pieces plunging into the river, unpinning the Dali.
    — Christine Condon, Baltimore Sun, 8 May 2024
  • The subjects say rending but also disquieting things about killing.
    — Lisa Kennedy, Variety, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Meanwhile, a deafening blast of noise keeps rending the air and forcing everyone to fold up like tulips at sunset.
    — Tom Gliatto, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023
  • By that point however, Reeves says Smith’s vice had become truly life-rending.
    — Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 1 June 2026
  • Some mighty tornado, or resistless cyclone, may rend its massive blocks asunder and hurl huge fragments to the ground.
    — Nora McGreevy, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Aug. 2021
  • Idalia cut an unpredictable path of destruction, rending some homes from their foundations while sparing others.
    — Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Jakes was, by his own admission, not a great stylist and his plots were crafted for maximum heart-rending drama rather than logical soundness.
    — John Warner, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2023
  • Guthrie’s willingness to take part in an interview with a visibly emotional Kotb was heart-rending.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 3 Apr. 2026
  • However, top-end hurricanes, the kind that rend shorelines and change history, almost certainly will.
    — Paul Douglas, Star Tribune, 24 Sep. 2020
  • In its opening match, the 2026 World Cup already had one of its most poignant, heart-rending moments and stories.
    — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 11 June 2026
  • Pundits and politicians who rend their garments over the evils of gerrymandering never propose to give back their policy winnings from this period.
    — Dan McLaughlin, National Review, 11 Feb. 2022
  • Every year, the Oscar nomination announcements tend to inspire shrieks of joy, yelps of surprise, and the loud gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 2 Mar. 2023
  • While humans use oxygen to rend carbon compounds into carbon dioxide and water, Geobacter can use iron oxides and other metals for the same purpose.
    — Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2011
  • Could the dark energy that’s accelerating the expansion of the universe eventually rend apart spacetime?
    — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 22 Feb. 2023
  • Some people have wondered if his departure in early 2016 didn’t somehow rend the fabric of space-time and send us hurtling into a dimension of alternate outcomes.
    — Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2021
  • Holley is volcanically self-expressive in his visual art, whether rending tiny wires into human profiles or planning massive statues from uncut granite and gleaming metal.
    — John Lingan, Washington Post, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Jean-Luc Godard used nonprofessionals to rend the dramatic fabric and expose the artifices of performance.
    — Richard Brody, New Yorker, 25 Feb. 2026
  • More notable still, perhaps, is the fact that calling for the release of the Epstein files has seemed to cut across the myriad divisions rending the Democratic Party.
    — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2026
  • The excellent Julian Quinones’ early goal settled any nerves and then came the emotive, heart-rending second from talisman Raul Jimenez in the second half.
    — Tim Spiers, New York Times, 17 June 2026
  • Such a move would rend a global deal that has been hailed as historic, throwing into question the fate of global climate policy and, diplomats say, the credibility of the United States.
    — Coral Davenport, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2017
  • During highly sensationalized and publicized court cases, terms to describe abusive behavior often rend online.
    — NBC News, 23 Apr. 2022
  • The sagas of Icelanders—plotty, laconic, often heart-rending—constitute one of the oldest literatures in any language still commonly spoken.
    — Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 2026
  • That's what Jonah craves after a particularly painful moment that Snyder delivers with rending clarity.
    — Melinda Morris, NOLA.com, 10 July 2017
  • There’s also a poem that Anders gave Winslet for Mother’s Day years ago, and which plays a pivotal role in Goodbye June’s heart-rending climax.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 25 Nov. 2025
  • In lesser hands, this might be one of those theatrical pieces that offers a nice excuse for actors to rend garments and gnash teeth onscreen — the sort of cinéma du Off-Broadway favored by microbudget indie directors and arthouse die-hards.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 6 Sep. 2024
  • The German priest’s criticisms of the Catholic Church sparked the Protestant Reformation, rending Christianity in two.
    — Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 30 June 2026
  • After Destiny’s Child broke up, Beyoncé secretly held onto the Górecki feeling, hoping one day to rend her heart openly, singing the saddest music ever to touch her soul (without breaking it).
    — Rolling Stone, 2 Apr. 2024
  • The emotional tribute paid homage to some of the most heart-rending high-profile deaths of the past year, including Diane Keaton, Robert Redford, and Rob Reiner, each of whom received their own dedicated homage.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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