Bent

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: bĕnt, IPA: /bɛnt/, SAMPA: /bent/

• Audio (US)

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  Rhymes: -ɛnt

Verb

bent

1. Simple past tense and past participle of bend.

Adjective

Bent (comparative more Bent, superlative most Bent)

1. (Of something that is usually straight) folded, dented
2. (derogatory, colloquial, chiefly UK) Homosexual.
3. Determined or insistent.
4. Of a person leading a life of crime.
5. (slang, soccer) inaccurate at shooting

   That shot was so bent it left the pitch.

6. (colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends
7. high from using both marijuana and alcohol.

   Man, I am so bent right now!

Synonyms

• (folded): crooked
• (homosexual): queer

Related terms

• (determined): hellbent

Noun

Bent (plural Bents)

1. An inclination or talent.

   He had a natural bent for painting.

2. A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.

   His mind was of a technical bent.

Synonyms

• (an inclination or talent): disposition, predilection, proclivity, propensity

Noun

Bent (plural Bents)

1. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.
   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’, The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society 2005, p. 121:

     Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].

   • 1913, DH Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, Penguin 2006, pp. 277-8:

     Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.

2. A grassy area, grassland.