Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

bender

American  
[ben-der] / ˈbɛn dər /

noun

  • benders
    plural
  1. a person or thing that bends, as a pair of pliers or a powered machine.

  2. Slang. a drinking spree.

  3. Baseball Slang. curve.


bender British  
/ ˈbɛndə /

noun

  1. informal a drinking bout

  2. taboo a male homosexual

  3. informal a makeshift shelter constructed by placing tarpaulin or plastic sheeting over bent saplings or woven branches

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of bender

1200–50; Middle English (in surnames); see bend 1, -er 1


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.

See Examples For:

But Mascaro’s style is too realistic to take us on a goofy psychotropic bender.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026

And this latest fender bender might be the one that finally illuminates dashboard warning lights for those bosses who have always so hastily turned to Woods in the past.

From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026

The damage included shooting down one of our own fighter jets and a carrier fender bender with a civilian ship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026

Then, when I departed said strip mall and made a left-hand turn across four lanes of traffic, I hit another car—it was worse than a fender bender, but no one was hurt.

From Slate ● May 12, 2024

He was rough around the edges, a football player, the guy who’d made fun of her car in the church parking lot after she’d gotten in a fender bender.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

With the number of neon benders dwindling, those who remain form a small, tightknit community.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Eventually he finds his Earth Kingdom teacher, Toph, a blind young woman who is also one of the world’s greatest benders.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

Wade shared that Union had stopped driving after a few fender benders made her come to terms with driving just not being her thing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2023

This is not just another of his verbal fender benders.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2022

It also almost causes a couple of fender benders.

From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training