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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

Is there any risk that law firms with new, sans-serif mononyms will bend too far toward DTC branding tropes and strike some as unserious?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

But Moody says some applicants still try to bend the rules, particularly in video interviews.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

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

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

“That’s an order,” she said, and strode around the bend.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

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

Sheila Miller, a spokesperson at the Bend Police Department, told journalists that officers were alerted to respond to a critical scene at 1:00 pm local time, and that police arrived about two minutes later.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

It is a mosaic of subcultures: fishermen in coastal towns, hipsters in Portland, hippies in Eugene, hikers in Bend, farmers in the Willamette Valley, loggers in timber towns and cowboys in Eastern Oregon’s high desert.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 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

Who did he cheer for up at Rigor Mortis Bend?

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

The cluster's powerful gravity bends and distorts the light traveling from those background galaxies, creating a rare effect called strong gravitational lensing.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

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

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2026

Authorities said Garcia was speeding down River Road, a two-lane highway that bends with the river, when the road turned.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

If a CEO bends the rules, he added, “that sends a devastating message to the people inside the organization because it shows that, well, if he can do that, I can do that.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

He lifts a panel covering the engine, bends over, and starts working.

From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin

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

Me on bended knee, with a ring I'd emptied my bank account to buy.

From Salon ● Jun. 20, 2022

A blushing queen of little more than twenty summers on her throne, and the whole flame-lit hall filling with noble knights on bended knee.

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

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

His squat thighs keep his legs bent for more of the pedal stroke, another wind-resistance advantage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026

Setting her pocketbook down on the table, she bent over to dig in it, her hair hanging down both sides of her face.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

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

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

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

The first was a quadratic trend analysis, which tests whether the temperature curve is bending upward over time rather than rising at a constant rate.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 1, 2026

That would be bending the power of the stream to his own ends.

From "Abel's Island" by William Steig

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Related Words

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

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