pent
verb
a simple past tense and past participle of pen.
pent
1 American
[pent]
/ pɛnt /
verb
adjective
pent
2
American
[pent]
/ pɛnt /
noun
Pent.
3
American
abbreviation
pent
British
/ pɛnt /
verb
Etymology
Origin of pent1
First recorded in 1535–45; late Middle English pente, pent, past participle of obsolete pend, variant of pennen “to enclose, confine”; cf. pen 2
Origin of pent2
By shortening
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Most everyone is pent up, ready to pop.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2025
Aswan remembers taking her driving theory test: "I got so pent up about passing it first time that when I failed by a couple of points I've never tried to get it back."
From BBC • Nov. 19, 2025
And when Anisimova’s final return of serve flew wide, Sabalenka released all of the pent up tension by sinking to her knees and weeping onto the court.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 6, 2025
“Post-COVID, we got this big influx of revenge travel, where everyone’s so pent up indoors and they’re just like, ‘Get me out there,’ ” McElroy explains.
From Slate • Oct. 27, 2024
The pent waters spread out into a long oval lake, pale Nen Hithoel, fenced by steep grey hills whose sides were clad with trees, but their heads were bare, cold-gleaming in the sunlight.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
