sunder

• The yard of the main-topsail was cut in sunder, and the peak halliard of the spanker severed, and the peak came down with a run. —  Held Fast For England A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83)
• It saddened even Christ's heart to think that He had come to rend families in sunder, and to make 'a man's foes them of his own household'; and we can little imagine how bitter the pang must have been when family love had to be cast aside at the bidding of allegiance to Him But though the stress of that separation between those most nearly related in blood by reason of unshared faith is alleviated in this day, it still remains; and that is but a feeble Christian life which does not feel that it is drawing a heart from closest human embraces and constituting a barrier between it and the dearest of earth. —  Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)
• It links him to them by a bond which perhaps he ought not to sunder, and which he can not sunder if he would. —  The Teacher
• The next day to that we embarqued all a sunder, a boat for each. —  Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson
• Many a shield-plate sprang in sunder, and the precious stones were scattered among the blood. —  The Fall of the Niebelungs

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms