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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

And then she knelt down in quiet prayer.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 16, 2025

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

From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025

American soldiers knelt to literally roll out the red carpet for him.

From BBC • Aug. 16, 2025

He came back to the desk, knelt down beside it, real close, and flapped his lobe out so it sat like a tiny pancake on the top edge of the desk.

From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli

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.