bent

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Youths with this bent are the most healthful and inspiring young citizens we have.

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Definitions (54)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. verb Past tense and past participle of bend1.
  2. adjective Altered from an originally straight or even condition: pieces of bent wire.
  3. adjective Determined to take a course of action: I was bent on going to the theater.
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Examples (50)

  • For a driver of the ill-matched team Schiller calls in the Spieltrieb , or play-bent, which is only a new name for the aesthetic faculty. —  The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller
  • Spink was caught half-bent, his fingers dripping a double handful of water halfway to his face. —  Hobb, Robin - The Soldier Son 01 - Shaman's Crossing (v2.0)
  • He was standing in front of the hearth with his head bent, his hands braced on the mantle. —  Garwood, Julie - Rose 3 - One White Rose
  • This surely must convey something to you who knew me well of old and will remember that I was ever most critical having the idea then that my bent was artistic I could hardly believe in my own good fortune, Miss Eliza, when she said she would have me. —  The Heart of Arethusa
  • With head down-bent, the girl followed her father through the house Mata helped them into the two new, shining jinrikishas, a dragon-crest blazoned on the one for Umč's use. —  The Dragon Painter
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

bent:   bends ·  bend ·  bending
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English beonet (attested only in place names).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Pret. and past participle of bend.
  2. Var. of bend, n., perhaps after bent, preterit and past participle; but cf. descent, from descend; ascent, from ascend, etc.
  3. Also dial. bennet; from Middle English bent, from Anglo-Saxon *beonet (found only in comp., in local names, as in Beonetleáh, later English Bentley) = Old Saxon *binet (not authenticated) = Low German behnd (Brem. Wörterb.) = Old High German binuz, binez, Middle High German binz, German binse, a bent, rush; origin unknown.
 

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/bɛnt/
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