kneel
Americanverb (used without object)
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have kneeledperfect
-
have kneltperfect
-
has kneeledperfect 3rd person singular
-
has kneltperfect 3rd person singular
-
is kneelingprogressive 3rd person singular
-
have been kneelingperfect progressive
-
am kneelingprogressive 1st person singular
-
are kneelingprogressive
-
kneelingparticiple
-
kneelssingular 3rd person
-
has been kneelingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
Past
-
had kneltperfect
-
had kneeledperfect
-
kneeledsimple
-
kneltparticiple
-
were kneelingprogressive plural
-
kneeledparticiple
-
had been kneelingperfect progressive
-
kneltsimple
-
was kneelingprogressive singular
Future
Etymology
Origin of kneel
First recorded before 1000; Middle English knelen, Old English cnēowlian (cognate with Low German knelen, Dutch knielen ). See knee, -le
Explanation
When you kneel, you rest your bent knees on the ground. People kneel to pray, to work in the garden, and to do yoga. Kids often kneel on the living room rug to play, and adults kneel to tie a child's shoelaces, to vacuum under the sofa, to play with a puppy, to exercise, and for many other reasons. A great thing about the word kneel is that its meaning is easy to see — the word knee is obvious when you look at it. The Old English root word, cnēowlian, simply means kneel, and it comes from cnēow, or "knee."
Vocabulary lists containing kneel
Unit 1: Telling Details
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"Encounter"
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Words with Two Past-Tense Forms That Creeped (or Crept) into English
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
