bend

1. 1.

   form a curve

   “The stick does not bend”

   Synonymsflex

   Antonymsstraighten

   Broaderchange shape

   Narrowercrookarchincurvateretroflexleancrouchdouble overfawncurl up
2. 2.

   change direction

   “The road bends”

   Broaderturn
3. 3.

   cause (a plastic object) to assume a crooked or angular form

   “bend the rod”

   “twist the dough into a braid”

   “the strong man could turn an iron bar”

   Synonymsflexdeformtwistturn

   Antonymsunbend

   Broaderchange shape

   Narrowerindentincurvate
4. 4.

   bend one's back forward from the waist on down

   “he crouched down”

   “She bowed before the Queen”

   “The young man stooped to pick up the girl's purse”

   Synonymscrouchstoopbow

   Narrowersquinchhuddle
5. 5.

   turn from a straight course, fixed direction, or line of interest

   Synonymsdeflectturn away

   Broaderturn
6. 6.

   bend a joint

   “flex your wrists”

   “bend your knees”

   Synonymsflex

   Broadermove

Other forms of bend

plural

bends·

past tense or participle

bent

present participle

bending·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about bend

What does bend mean?

bend means "a circular segment of a curve". That is the primary sense; the word has 12 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in bend?

bend has 1 syllable: bend. In IPA it is /ˈbɛnd/.

What is another word for bend?

Close synonyms include crook, twist, turn, bending, curve. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of bend?

The recorded antonyms are straighten, unbend.

Is bend a common word?

bend is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with bend?

1 word rhymes with bend. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.