cleave to
verb
cleaved to; cleaved to; cleaving to; cleaves to
formal + literary
1
: to stay very close to (someone)
children cleaving to their families
2
: to stick closely to (something)
—usually used figuratively
He continued to cleave to the beliefs of his childhood.
Examples of cleave to in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That may be why the dominant strains in American modernism (at least until the mid-twentieth century, when the sublime reappeared in the work of the Abstract Expressionists) cleaved to the factual, the intimate, the proximate.
—
Sebastian Smee, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
In Moby Dick, Wilson cleaves to the story’s central existential quest, evoking the strangeness and humor of his source material through his own unmistakable landscapes.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 1 May 2026
Cleaving from himself as Comet, FourArm cleaves to himself as FiveArm’s remnant, and so—are Comet and FourArm two selves of the same self?
—Mandy-Suzanne Wong, Longreads, 5 Feb. 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Sebastian Smee, New Yorker, 4 May 2026
In Moby Dick, Wilson cleaves to the story’s central existential quest, evoking the strangeness and humor of his source material through his own unmistakable landscapes.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 1 May 2026
Cleaving from himself as Comet, FourArm cleaves to himself as FiveArm’s remnant, and so—are Comet and FourArm two selves of the same self?
—Mandy-Suzanne Wong, Longreads, 5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cleave to.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cleave%20to. Accessed 8 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
