bent

Use Bent in a sentence

adjective

curved; crooked: a bent bow; a bent stick.

determined; set; resolved (usually followed by on ): to be bent on buying a new car.

Chiefly British Slang.

morally crooked; corrupt.

stolen: bent merchandise.

homosexual.

noun

direction taken, as by one's interests; inclination: a bent for painting.

capacity of endurance: to work at the top of one's bent.

Civil Engineering. a transverse frame, as of a bridge or an aqueduct, designed to support either vertical or horizontal loads.

Archaic. bent state or form; curvature.

Relevant Questions

How To Fix Bent Rims

00:10

Bent is a GRE word you need to know.

So is denunciatory. Does it mean:

characterized by or given to condemnation

to reprove or find fault with; rebuke; censure; blame.

LEARN MORE GRE WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Origin:
1525–35; orig. past participle of bend¹

Synonyms
1. bowed, flexed. 2. fixed. 4. tendency, propensity, proclivity, predilection, penchant, partiality, leaning, bias.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

bent grass.

a stalk of bent grass.

Scot., North England. (formerly) any stiff grass or sedge.

British Dialect. a moor; heath; tract of uncultivated, grassy land, used as a pasture or hunting preserve.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English; earlier benet-, bunet- (in compounds), Old English beonet-, beonot- (in place names); cognate with Old High German binuz (compare German Binse) rush

verb (used with object)

to force (an object, especially a long or thin one) from a straight form into a curved or angular one, or from a curved or angular form into some different form: to bend an iron rod into a hoop.

to direct or turn in a particular direction: to bend one's energies to the task.

to cause to submit or yield: to bend someone to one's will.

to modify or relax (restrictions, regulations, etc.) temporarily or in certain circumstances: to bend the rules.

to incline mentally (usually followed by to or toward ): bending his thoughts back toward his childhood.

to pull back the string of (a bow or the like) in preparation for shooting.

Nautical. to fasten.

Archaic. to strain or brace tensely (often followed by up ).

verb (used without object)

to become curved, crooked, or bent: a bow that bends easily.

10.

to assume a bent posture; stoop (often followed by over ): to bend as one walks; to bend over and pick up something.

11.

to turn or incline in a particular direction; be directed: The road bent toward the south.

12.

to yield or submit; give in.

13.

to bow in submission or reverence: bending to one's monarch.

14.

to direct one's energies: We bent to our work as the bell sounded.

noun

15.

the act of bending.

16.

something that bends; curve; crook: a bend in the road; a bend in the curtain rod.

17.

Nautical. any of various loops or knots for joining the ends of two ropes or the like, or for joining the end of a rope or the like to some other object.

18.

bends, Nautical.

thick planking immediately below the waterways of a wooden vessel.

the wales of a vessel.

19.

the bends, aeroembolism ( def 2 ).

Idioms

20.

around/round the bend, Slang. insane; crazy: These interruptions will send me round the bend!

21.

bend/lean/fall over backward, to exert oneself to the utmost; make a serious effort: They bent over backward to make sure their guests were comfortable.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English benden (v.) Old English bendan to bind, bend (a bow); cognate with Middle High German benden, Old Norse benda; akin to Old Norse band band. See band³

Related forms

bend·a·ble, adjective

non·bend·ing, adjective

re·bend·a·ble, adjective

Synonyms
1. curve, crook, flex, bow. 3. mold, subdue, influence. 10. Bend, bow, stoop imply taking a bent posture. Bend and bow are used of the head and upper body; stoop is used of the body only.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To Bent

Collins

World English Dictionary

bend¹ (bɛnd)

—vb , bends, bending, bent
1.	to form or cause to form a curve, as by pushing or pulling
2.	to turn or cause to turn from a particular direction: the road bends left past the church
3.	(intr; often foll by down, etc) to incline the body; stoop; bow
4.	to submit or cause to submit: to bend before superior force
5.	(tr) to turn or direct (one's eyes, steps, attention, etc)
6.	(tr) to concentrate (the mind); apply oneself closely
7.	(tr) nautical to attach or fasten, as a sail to a boom or a line to a cleat
8.	informal bend over backwards to make a special effort, esp in order to please: he bends over backwards to accommodate his customers
9.	informal bend someone's ear to speak at length to an unwilling listener, esp to voice one's troubles
10.	informal bend the rules to ignore rules or change them to suit one's own convenience

—n
11.	a curved part, as in a road or river
12.	nautical a knot or eye in a line for joining it to another or to an object
13.	the act or state of bending
14.	slang (Brit) round the bend mad; crazy; eccentric

[Old English bendan; related to Old Norse benda, Middle High German benden; see bind, band³]

'bendable¹

—*adj*

bend² (bɛnd)

—n
	heraldry an ordinary consisting of a diagonal line traversing a shield

[Old English bendband²; see bend¹]

bent¹ (bɛnt)

—*adj*
1.	not straight; curved
2.	(foll by on) fixed (on a course of action); resolved (to); determined (to)
3.	slang
	a. dishonest; corrupt
	b. (of goods) stolen
	c. crazy; mad
	d. offensive (Brit) homosexual

—n
4.	personal inclination, propensity, or aptitude
5.	capacity of endurance (esp in the phrase to the top of one's bent)
6.	civil engineering a framework placed across a structure to stiffen it

bent² (bɛnt)

—n
1.	short for bent grass
2.	a stalk of bent grass
3.	archaic any stiff grass or sedge
4.	dialect (Scot), (Northern English) heath or moorland

[Old English bionot; related to Old Saxon binet, Old High German binuz rush]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bend

O.E. bendan "to confine with a string," causative of bindan "to bind," from P.Gmc. base *band- "string, band" (cf. O.N. benda "to join, strain, strive, bend"), from PIE base *bhendh- (cf. Goth. bindan, O.H.G. bintan, Skt. badhnati "binds," Lith. bendras "partner;" O.Pers. bandaka- "subject"). Modern

sense (early 14c.) is via notion of bending a bow to string it. Cognate with band, bind, and bond. The noun meaning "thing of bent shape" is from c.1600. The bends "decompression pain" first attested 1894.

bent

"mental inclination," 1570s, from the adj., "not straight" (late 14c.), originally pp. of bend. The verb meaning "directed in a course" is from 1690s. Phrase bent out of shape "extremely upset" is 1960s Air Force and college student slang.

bent

"stiff grass," O.E. beonet, from W.Gmc. *binut- "rush, marsh grass" (cf. Ger. binse "rush, reed"), of unknown origin. An obsolete word, but surviving in place names (cf. Bentley, from O.E. Beonet-leah).

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

bend (běnd)
v. bent (běnt), bend·ing, bends
To incline the body; stoop.

Slang Dictionary

bent definition

mod.
alcohol or drug intoxicated. : I've never seen two guys so bent.
mod.
dishonest; crooked. : I'm afraid that Paul is a little bent. He cheats on his taxes.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

Example sentences

When figs are ripe, they detach easily when lifted and bent back toward the

branch.

They thought that a low hum might straighten out those bent cochlear hairs.

Within the region where the light is bent from our perspective, it still

appears straight to an observer within it.

And he still seems bent on repaying election favours to a rapacious old guard.

Enjoy Dictionary.com ad-free! Learn more

brown bent crook deflexed elbow flection knee

Matching Quote

"Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain; in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly; when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets; before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it."

-unknown author