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• bend
  bend

  verb (used with object)

  to force (an object, especially a long or thin one) from a straight form into a curved or angular one, or from a curved or angular form into some different form.
• Bend
  Bend

  noun

  a city in central Oregon.

bend

¹ American  

[bend] / bɛnd /

verb (used with object)

• bends,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bent,
  past participle,  past
• bended,
  past participle,  past (Archaic)
• bending
  present participle

1. to force (an object, especially a long or thin one) from a straight form into a curved or angular one, or from a curved or angular form into some different form.

   to bend an iron rod into a hoop.

   Synonyms:

   bow, flex, crook, curve

2. to direct or turn in a particular direction.

   to bend one's energies to the task.

3. to cause to submit or yield.

   to bend someone to one's will.

   Synonyms:

   sway, persuade, compel, shape, mold, influence

4. to modify or relax (restrictions, regulations, etc.) temporarily or in certain circumstances.

   to bend the rules.

5. to incline mentally (usually followed by to ortoward ).

   bending his thoughts back toward his childhood.

6. to pull back the string of (a bow or the like) in preparation for shooting.

7. Nautical. to fasten.

8. Archaic. to strain or brace tensely (often followed byup ).

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verb (used without object)

• bends,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bent,
  past participle,  past
• bended,
  past participle,  past (Archaic)
• bending
  present participle

1. to become curved, crooked, or bent.

   a bow that bends easily.

2. to assume a bent posture; stoop (often followed byover ).

   to bend as one walks;

   to bend over and pick up something.

3. to turn or incline in a particular direction; be directed.

   The road bent toward the south.

4. to yield or submit; give in.

5. to bow in submission or reverence.

   bending to one's monarch.

6. to direct one's energies.

   We bent to our work as the bell sounded.

noun

1. the act of bending.

2. something that bends; curve; crook.

   a bend in the road;

   a bend in the curtain rod.

3. Nautical. any of various loops or knots for joining the ends of two ropes or the like, or for joining the end of a rope or the like to some other object.

4. Nautical. bends,

   1. thick planking immediately below the waterways of a wooden vessel.

   2. the wales of a vessel.

5. the bends, aeroembolism.

idioms

1. around / round the bend, insane; crazy.

   These interruptions will send me round the bend!

2. bend / lean / fall over backward, to exert oneself to the utmost; make a serious effort.

   They bent over backward to make sure their guests were comfortable.

bend ² American  

[bend] / bɛnd /

noun

1. Heraldry.

   1. a diagonal band extending from the dexter chief of an escutcheon to the sinister base.

   2. in bend, (of a charge) set diagonally or in a diagonal row.

2. Tanning. half of a trimmed butt or hide.

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Bend ³ American  

[bend] / bɛnd /

noun

1. a city in central Oregon.

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bend ¹ British  

/ bɛnd /

verb

1. to form or cause to form a curve, as by pushing or pulling

2. to turn or cause to turn from a particular direction

   the road bends left past the church

3. (intr; often foll by down, etc) to incline the body; stoop; bow

4. to submit or cause to submit

   to bend before superior force

5. (tr) to turn or direct (one's eyes, steps, attention, etc)

6. (tr) to concentrate (the mind); apply oneself closely

7. (tr) nautical to attach or fasten, as a sail to a boom or a line to a cleat

8. informal to make a special effort, esp in order to please

   he bends over backwards to accommodate his customers

9. informal to speak at length to an unwilling listener, esp to voice one's troubles

10. informal to ignore rules or change them to suit one's own convenience

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noun

1. a curved part, as in a road or river

2. nautical a knot or eye in a line for joining it to another or to an object

3. the act or state of bending

4. slang mad; crazy; eccentric

bend ² British  

/ bɛnd /

noun

1. heraldry an ordinary consisting of a diagonal line traversing a shield

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bend More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing bend

• around the bend
• crook (bend) one's elbow
• on bended knee

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Usage

What is a basic definition of bend? Bend means to make something change its shape from straight to curved or to make someone submit. A bend is a curve or a turn. The word bend has several other senses as a verb and a noun. If you bend something that is straight, you are forcing it into a curve or an angle. If you bend a drinking straw, for example, you are using your hands to force it to curve or to slant. If you bend something too far, it may snap or break. Something or someone that bends is a bender.

• Real-life examples: A baker needs to bend dough to make a pretzel. Yoga includes a lot of bending forward and backward.
• Used in a sentence: Jonah’s arms were so sore after lifting weights that he could barely bend his arms.

Bend can also be used to mean to become curved or angled. This sense is often followed by the word over or down when referring to a person bending to stoop down. The adjective bendy describes something as bending easily or having a tendency to bend.

• Used in a sentence: I bent over and picked up all of the trash on the ground.

A bend is a curve or change in direction.

• Used in a sentence: When driving, you need to be careful of sudden bends in the road.

Bend can also mean to make someone submit or yield or to submit to someone else.

• Used in a sentence: Charlemagne forced the conquered people to bend to his will.

Armando bent to her demands because he had no other choice.

Synonym Usage

Bend, bow, stoop imply taking a bent posture. Bend and bow are used of the head and upper body; stoop is used of the body only.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bendable
  adjective
• nonbending
  adjective
• rebendable
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• bending
  present
• bended
  past
• bent
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bend
  simple
• bends
  simple
• have bended
  perfect
• have bent
  perfect
• has bended
  perfect
• has bent
  perfect
• am bending
  progressive
• are bending
  progressive
• is bending
  progressive
• have been bending
  perfect progressive
• has been bending
  perfect progressive

Past

• bended
  simple
• bent
  simple
• had bended
  perfect
• had bent
  perfect
• was bending
  progressive
• were bending
  progressive
• had been bending
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bend
  simple
• will have bended
  perfect
• will have bent
  perfect
• will be bending
  progressive
• will have been bending
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of bend¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb benden, binde, Old English bendan “to bind, bend (a bow)”; cognate with Middle High German benden, Old Norse benda; akin to Old Norse band “band, cord, confederacy”; see band ³

Origin of bend²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English adjective bende; blend of Old English bend “band, fetter” and Middle French bende ( Medieval Latin benda, binda ); band ², band ³

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Explanation

To bend is to curve. You can bend physically, as when you practice yoga, and also figuratively, the way you do when you "bend over backwards," working hard to make something happen, especially on behalf of another person. Tree trunks and branches are able to bend when they're whipped by strong wind — this way, they're usually able to avoid breaking. A bend in the road is a curve, and to bend the rules is to change them slightly in a specific instance. If you try to do a backbend, you have to arch or bend your spine and lean back until her head hangs down and your hands touch the floor. It's a move for the young and flexible. The Old English root, bendan, specifically referred to bending or stretching a bow.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bend Bend bends bended bent bending

Under sufficiently high temperatures and pressures, solid rock can gradually bend, stretch, and change its structure rather than simply breaking apart.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

If you have a bigger bend "it means you need a slightly thicker pillow than someone who's got a very flat back," says McCarthy.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Social media and shortform video have pushed everything from music to documentaries into a race to truncate their lengths and make everything bite-size, in order to bend to the current of algorithm-centric audiences.

From Slate ● Sep. 26, 2026

Beijing’s policy advisers expect Xi to use the summit, in part, to test how far Washington will bend on the issue that matters most to him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Galaxies can bend light because their gravity is so strong.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

On Friday, streets were quiet in Bend, an area known for its natural beauty, with hiking trails and ski slopes nearby that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

“That is true heroism,” Bend Police Chief Mike Krantz said at a news conference Friday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Schools throughout the city of Bend have been closed on Friday, with officials saying the community needs time to heal.

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026

Protesters gather in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 28 to demonstrate against construction of a border wall in Big Bend National Park.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

The route takes her down the street of a town, North Bend, and on a backcountry road through a long stretch of green meadow.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

There is the ritual, the way a whole week bends toward the game and then releases.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026

The snapping movement generated as the joint bends can be detected by an Arduino and used to count steps.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

As the membrane bends more strongly, electrical charge polarization builds up around those grain boundaries.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

It will gradually turn a reddish, copper color as sunlight bends and filters through the atmosphere to fall on the otherwise-obscured part of the moon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Suma bends down to look him in the eye.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

Emhoff subsequently made known his unhappiness with the firm’s capitulation, though he’s stopped short of quitting — as some have urged — to protest its bended knee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025

His colleagues celebrated his candidacy by circulating an image of him on bended knee praying for divine guidance with other lawmakers on the House floor.

From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2023

She says in the show: “Here I am, coming to you, prime minister, on bended knee, for the sign-off, but I’m hoping that will be a formality.”

From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2022

Just weeks later, he went down on bended knee at an Oxford ball.

From BBC ● Nov. 9, 2022

She did not love him any more now, would not let him come near her if he were to pray for it on bended knees.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

It bent over, clamped the cord with its pincers and tucked the cord along a shelf to clear a path.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

To explain this unexpected behavior, the researchers turned to topology, a mathematical field concerned with properties that remain unchanged when objects are continuously stretched, bent, or reshaped.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

While it bent there, the payments industry says the competition bill would lead to more changes that would ultimately harm consumers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

The Tiangong Omni swivels its torso wildly from side to side while waving its bent arms in front of its face.

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

He bent over, bracing his hands against his knees, trying to pull more air into his lungs, a delayed reaction to all his frantic pedaling and running.

From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

In other words, you can be forever reliant on the universe’s mercy or merciless in bending it to fulfill your ambition.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

She was fun to watch; she had a way of bending conversations where she wanted them to go.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

"Imagine bending a flexible ruler, except the bend is squeezed into a space smaller than a billionth of a meter," said Sathvik Ajay Iyengar, a former Rice doctoral student and lead author of the study.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 17, 2026

Growers are also reporting cucumbers that are coming out misshapen, with some bending back into a spiral.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Perilee’s condition made bending over the washboard and washtub awkward and uncomfortable.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

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Related Words

• bow
• buckle
• crouch
• curl
• flex
• incline
• lean
• stoop
• tilt
• twist
• veer

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