# bent

Pronunciation: say "BENT" /bɛnt/

## Adjective

1. Folded, dented, or pushed out of a normally straight shape.
   - Simple: No longer straight because it has been pushed, folded, or pressed out of shape.
   - _The fender was badly bent after the parking-lot collision._
   - _A bent antenna left the radio crackling with static._
3. Firmly determined or insistent on doing something; set on a particular course.
   - Simple: Very determined to do something and not willing to stop.
   - _The protesters were bent on being heard before the vote._
   - _Once she was bent on a plan, nothing could talk her out of it._
6. Corrupt or dishonest, especially of someone in a position of trust who breaks the rules for personal gain. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: Dishonest, especially by taking bribes or breaking the law.
   - _Everyone on the estate knew the local copper was bent._
   - _He made his money through a string of bent property deals._
9. Engaged in or living a life of crime.
   - Simple: Living by breaking the law and doing crime.
   - _By thirty he was thoroughly bent, running schemes across the city._
   - _Half the men he grew up with had gone bent before they turned twenty._
10. A derogatory slang term meaning homosexual. *(colloquial, UK)*
   - Simple: An insulting slang word meaning gay or homosexual.
   - _Schoolyard bullies would call any quiet, sensitive boy bent._
   - _He flinched whenever his uncle called anyone bent._
11. Annoyed, irritable, and out of sorts, often dwelling on one particular grievance.
   - Simple: Feeling annoyed or in a bad mood.
   - _She was bent about being left off the invitation list._
   - _He gets bent whenever anyone questions his decisions._

## Verb

2. Simple past and past participle of bend. — simple past and past participle of bend
   - Simple: Simple past and past participle of bend. Use it for the past, or after has, have, had, is, was or were.
   - _The storm bent the young trees nearly to the ground._
   - _Over the years, the old shelf had bent under the weight of the books._

## Noun

4. A natural inclination or talent for a particular activity or subject.
   - Simple: A natural skill or liking for doing something.
   - _The boy had a mechanical bent and loved taking engines apart._
   - _Her scientific bent made the research career an obvious choice._
5. A predisposition that shapes how someone acts or reacts in a given situation.
   - Simple: A natural way of acting or reacting that someone tends to have.
   - _His combative bent turned even small disagreements into arguments._
   - _A skeptical bent led her to question every claim she heard._
7. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined away from a straight line.
   - Simple: The state of being curved or crooked instead of straight.
   - _The bent of the bow gave it surprising power._
   - _Engineers measured the bent in the beam after the load test._
8. A particular direction or tendency; the course that something takes.
   - Simple: The particular direction or way that something tends to go.
   - _The discussion took a more philosophical bent halfway through._
   - _The new director gave the company a greener bent._
12. Any of various stiff or reed-like grasses, often growing in tufts on poor soil.
   - Simple: A kind of stiff grass with thin, reed-like stems.
   - _Golf greens are often sown with fine bent for a smooth surface._
   - _Patches of wiry bent covered the windswept dunes._
13. In carpentry, a frame set crosswise in a framed structure, forming one unit of its framing.
   - Simple: In building with wood, a frame set across a structure as one section of its whole frame.
   - _Volunteers hauled on ropes until the third bent of the timber-frame house stood upright._
   - _The pavilion's roof rests on five bents spaced twelve feet apart along its length._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A downward slope or declivity, such as the side of a hill.
- (adjective) Aimed inaccurately, so a kick or shot fails to reach where it was intended.
- (noun) The tension or driving force behind an action; energy or impetus.
- (noun) A stretch of open, grass-covered land.
- (adjective) Suffering from the bends, the sickness caused by surfacing too quickly from a deep dive.
- (adjective) Intoxicated by a combination of marijuana and alcohol.
- (noun) The withered, dried-out stalks left standing after grasses have died back.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–11, 13** — This comes from the Middle English preterite stem "bent-" and the past participle forms of the verb "benden" ("to bend"). It is equivalent to "bend" plus "-t."
**Meaning 12** — This comes from Middle English "bent," from Old English "*beonot" (found only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic "*binut" ("reed, rush"), whose origin is uncertain.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/bent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).