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Synonyms

knelt

American  
[nelt] / nɛlt /

verb

  1. a simple past tense and past participle of kneel.

knelt British  
/ nɛlt /

verb

  1. a past tense and past participle of kneel

"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

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.

Protesters, some wearing clerical stoles draped over their shoulders, knelt while singing hymns and reciting the Lord’s Prayer in frigid conditions before being handcuffed and led away, video showed.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright knelt in memory of the late Laney football coach John Beam after an interception Sunday.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 18, 2025

In the cemetery, Munzanza's mother Florence knelt by his gravestone and wept.

From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025

"David knelt down in front of me and just looked at me. I didn't believe them. I didn't want to believe them," she said.

From BBC • Sep. 15, 2025

I knelt at the edge of my bed, hovering over Fig’s gray mass of fur, afraid of what I might find.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

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.