lent

¹ American  

[lent] / lɛnt /

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of lend.

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Lent ² American  

[lent] / lɛnt /

noun

1. (in the Christian religion) an annual season of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting 40 weekdays to Easter, observed by Roman Catholic, Anglican, and certain other churches.

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-lent ³ American  

1. a suffix occurring in loanwords from Latin, variant of -ulent.

   pestilent.

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lent ¹ British  

/ lɛnt /

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of lend

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Lent ² British  

/ lɛnt /

noun

1. Christianity the period of forty weekdays lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, observed as a time of penance and fasting commemorating Jesus' fasting in the wilderness

2. (modifier) falling within or associated with the season before Easter

   Lent observance

3. (plural) (at Cambridge University) Lent term boat races

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Lent Cultural  

1. In Christianity, a time of fasting and repentance in the spring, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending several weeks later on Easter.

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Usage

What is Lent? Lent is the season of fasting and penitence that precedes Easter in some branches of Christianity.It is commonly observed by abstaining from certain things.

Discover More

To “give something up for Lent” is to abandon a pleasurable habit as an act of devotion and self-discipline.

Other Word Forms

• post-Lent adjective
• unlent adjective
• well-lent adjective

Etymology

Origin of Lent

First recorded before 900; Middle English leynte, Old English læncte “spring, springtime, Lent,” literally, “lengthening (of daylight hours)”; cognate with Dutch lente(n), German Lenz “spring” (only English has the ecclesiastical sense); Lenten, long ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

“Some of the dynamics that we’re seeing in touring recently as well as…the relationships that we have built along the way lent themselves to entering that space,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

He also lent his voice to the Christmas Day adaptation of Julia Donaldson's book, Tiddler, and recently became a published children's author.

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

China lent Kenya $9.7 billion between 2000 and 2019, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa Database by Boston University, with around half of that going to the railway.

From Barron's • Mar. 21, 2026

Private-credit fears have spread from shares of alternative asset managers to big banks that lent money to them, as investors fret about risks lurking in direct lenders’ loan books.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 14, 2026

“Well, I wanted to tell you that the violin you’ve been playing...you know it’s been in my family for many generations, right? Well, I had lent Luciana that violin too. But then, when she died...”

From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser