bending

Pluralbendings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of bend.

   Repeated bending of the metal eventually caused it to crack.

   Bending around the curve, the river slowed to a gentle pace.

   Note

   A single -ing form does two jobs here. As a participle it builds progressives and modifiers (the reeds were bending; bending low, she listened). As a gerund it names the action. Because bend works with or without an object, the form can take one (bending the bar) or stand alone (a river bending). Add the and of, as in the bending of the bar, and it shades into the noun for the motion.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   A motion or action that bends something.

   The dancer's slow bending traced a graceful arc across the stage.

   Careful bending of the steel rod gave the frame its rounded shape.

   Similarflexing

   Oppositestraightening

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   An instance of something being adapted or distorted from its original form.

   The constant bending of the regulations undermined the whole program.

   Critics accused the editor of a deliberate bending of the facts.

   Similardistortion, twisting, manipulation

   Note

   The figurative counterpart of the physical motion: what gets bent here is a rule, a fact or a principle rather than a knee. It is the noun behind the idiom bend the rules. It readily takes a plural, as in bendings of the rules, for repeated small departures that stop short of outright breaking.

4. 4
   adjective

   Capable of being bent, turned, or twisted without breaking.

   Engineers chose a bending alloy that flexes under load instead of cracking.

   Basket makers prize willow for its long, bending stems, which can be twisted into a hoop without splitting.

   Similarflexible

   Oppositeinflexible, unbending

   Note

   Here the participle has hardened into a true adjective. It compares with more and most (a more bending cane), which a participle alone cannot do. Flexible is its close synonym. Its opposites are inflexible and unbending, and unbending is built from the same verb with un- in front. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • Unbending shares the base bend and has the prefix un-; the adjective is formed from un- + bending. en.wiktionary.org

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