bent

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈbɛnt/ UK /bɛnt/ See IPA manual

Minimal pairs

Sounds like vent /v/ vs /b/

Freq #5549

Meanings

1

adj
No longer straight; curved or twisted out of shape.

He tried to hammer the bent nail back into place.
2

adj
Firmly determined to do something.

He was bent on going to Texas, no matter what anyone said.
3

noun
A natural talent or liking for a particular activity.

She has a real bent for languages.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · no longer straight; curved... crumpleddented

2 adj · firmly determined to do... bent ondead sethell-bent

3 noun · a natural talent or liking... hang

More predilection proclivity propensity

Word family

Forms bents

Derived forms bent-sidebentbillbentleybentnessbentwoodbowbentdownbenthellbenthyperbentinbentnick-bentprebent

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

bent double
bent forward so far that the upper body folds toward the legs

Verb + adverb
bent grass
a fine grass commonly grown on lawns and putting greens

Noun + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

As the twig is bent, so grows the tree

Etymology

From Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonot (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

bent Middle English *beonot Old English *binut Proto-West Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# bent

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** adj, noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbɛnt/
**IPA (UK):** /bɛnt/
**Frequency rank:** 5549

## Meanings
1. No longer straight; curved or twisted out of shape.
2. Firmly determined to do something.
3. A natural talent or liking for a particular activity.

## Examples
- He tried to hammer the bent nail back into place.
- He was bent on going to Texas, no matter what anyone said.
- She has a real bent for languages.

## Synonyms
- predilection
- proclivity
- propensity

## Derived Forms
- bent-side
- bentbill
- bentley
- bentness
- bentwood
- bowbent
- downbent
- hellbent
- hyperbent
- inbent
- nick-bent
- prebent

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: bent
- Root: *beonot
- Root: *binut

## Etymology
From Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonot (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

## AI Etymology
Bent comes from Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonot (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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