Bend
verb
To move a part of your body so it is not straight.
You have to bend your knees when you do this exercise.
Often appears as...
- bend your knee
- bend your elbow
verb
To push or press something so that it is no longer flat or straight.
Don't sit on that box. You'll bend it!
Often appears as...
- bend the rules
- bend a spoon
noun
A curve, especially a sharp curve, in a road or river.
Watch out for the sharp bend in the road.
Often appears as...
- sharp bend
- hairpin bend
verb
To change or cause to change direction.
The road bends to the right after the bridge
Often appears as...
- bend to the left
- bend to the right
verb
To force or persuade someone to change her or his beliefs or actions.
I refuse to bend to their demands.
Often appears as...
- bend to pressure
- bend to the will
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A knot for joining the ends of two ropes.
He used a bend knot to secure the two ropes together
Often appears as...
- sheet bend
- anchor bend
Usage tips
Technical
verb
To move a part of your body so it is not straight.
You have to bend your knees when you do this exercise.
Often appears as...
- bend your knee
- bend your elbow
verb
To push or press something so that it is no longer flat or straight.
Don't sit on that box. You'll bend it!
Often appears as...
- bend the rules
- bend a spoon
noun
A curve, especially a sharp curve, in a road or river.
Watch out for the sharp bend in the road.
Often appears as...
- sharp bend
- hairpin bend
verb
To change or cause to change direction.
The road bends to the right after the bridge
Often appears as...
- bend to the left
- bend to the right
verb
To force or persuade someone to change her or his beliefs or actions.
I refuse to bend to their demands.
Often appears as...
- bend to pressure
- bend to the will
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
A knot for joining the ends of two ropes.
He used a bend knot to secure the two ropes together
Often appears as...
- sheet bend
- anchor bend
Usage tips
Technical
Definition 1 of 6
Pro Tip 1/2Physical action
Use 'bend' to describe intentional movements during physical activities.
She bent forward to stretch her back.
Pro Tip 2/2Common metaphor
'Bend' is often used metaphorically to express flexibility in thinking or behavior.
It's helpful to bend your mind around new concepts.
Pro Tip 1/2Physical action
Use 'bend' to describe intentional movements during physical activities.
She bent forward to stretch her back.
Pro Tip 2/2Common metaphor
'Bend' is often used metaphorically to express flexibility in thinking or behavior.
It's helpful to bend your mind around new concepts.
Pro Tip 1/2Physical action
Use 'bend' to describe intentional movements during physical activities.
She bent forward to stretch her back.
Pro Tip 2/2Common metaphor
'Bend' is often used metaphorically to express flexibility in thinking or behavior.
It's helpful to bend your mind around new concepts.
Never forget "Bend"
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Video examples
Robots Hunting for Life...
So you need something to protect you from essentially exploding or at least having your skin all stretched out, and the blood boiling and getting the bends, things like that. The way space suits are designed now, they're mostly pressurised spacecraft. Essentially, they're almost like a mini spaceship. Things like, how do you maintain water?
Video examples
Why do your knuckles...
But the reason it's important for knuckle cracking is that, like other fluids in your body, it contains lots of dissolved gas molecules. Knuckle-crackers know that to get that satisfying pop, you stretch the joint farther than it normally goes by bending your fingers backwards, for example.
Video examples
Why the octopus brain is...
This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the middle, for example.
Video examples
Why we love repetition...
but the guitarist pitch bending might be of critical expressive importance. The speech to song illusion captures how simply repeating a sentence a number of times shifts listeners attention to the pitch and temporal aspects of the sound, so that the repeated spoken language
Video examples
Why I think inside the...
think of it as a catalogue of humanity as a composite of infinite interactions between cultural adaptations and genetic projections now what do I really mean by that our biological DNA bends it curves at mutated mutates not only through
Video examples
How high can you count...
It depends on how dexterous you feel. If you can bend each finger just halfway, that gives us three different states - down, half bent, and raised. Now, we can count using a base-three positional system,
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
do that she just very gently bends over kind of almost inverts her body vertically and picks the ray up and then slowly just raises her head and now she's you know four or five feet in front of me with
Video examples
Amy Purdy: Living beyond...
And that is when a new chapter in my life began. Four months later I was back up on a snowboard, although things didn't go quite as My knees and my ankles wouldn't bend
Video examples
A Scottish Fly Moves In...
you show me a humble horse mate and i'll show you a unicorn they don't exist i mean we even bend down so you can get on our backs you think
Video examples
Julian Baggini: Is there...
fletchers bend the arrow, carpenters bend a log of wood, wise people fashion themselves." And that's the idea I want to leave you with,
Video examples
Robots Hunting for Life...
So you need something to protect you from essentially exploding or at least having your skin all stretched out, and the blood boiling and getting the bends, things like that. The way space suits are designed now, they're mostly pressurised spacecraft. Essentially, they're almost like a mini spaceship. Things like, how do you maintain water?
Video examples
Why do your knuckles...
But the reason it's important for knuckle cracking is that, like other fluids in your body, it contains lots of dissolved gas molecules. Knuckle-crackers know that to get that satisfying pop, you stretch the joint farther than it normally goes by bending your fingers backwards, for example.
Video examples
Why the octopus brain is...
This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the middle, for example.
Video examples
Why we love repetition...
but the guitarist pitch bending might be of critical expressive importance. The speech to song illusion captures how simply repeating a sentence a number of times shifts listeners attention to the pitch and temporal aspects of the sound, so that the repeated spoken language
Video examples
Why I think inside the...
think of it as a catalogue of humanity as a composite of infinite interactions between cultural adaptations and genetic projections now what do I really mean by that our biological DNA bends it curves at mutated mutates not only through
Video examples
How high can you count...
It depends on how dexterous you feel. If you can bend each finger just halfway, that gives us three different states - down, half bent, and raised. Now, we can count using a base-three positional system,
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
do that she just very gently bends over kind of almost inverts her body vertically and picks the ray up and then slowly just raises her head and now she's you know four or five feet in front of me with
Video examples
Amy Purdy: Living beyond...
And that is when a new chapter in my life began. Four months later I was back up on a snowboard, although things didn't go quite as My knees and my ankles wouldn't bend
Video examples
A Scottish Fly Moves In...
you show me a humble horse mate and i'll show you a unicorn they don't exist i mean we even bend down so you can get on our backs you think
Video examples
Julian Baggini: Is there...
fletchers bend the arrow, carpenters bend a log of wood, wise people fashion themselves." And that's the idea I want to leave you with,
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Tony Dorsett
American Athlete
Everything starts with yourself, with you making up your mind about what you're going to do with your life. I tell kids that it's a cruel world, and that the world will bend them either left or right, and it's up to them to decide which way to bend.
Quote examples
Black Elk
Leader
My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow?
Quote examples
Abhishek Banerjee
Indian Politician
Whether you believe it or not, you have to understand the politics. In every script, there is a political bend that the writer has included. Whether you like it or not, is on you. But it's very important to know that politics.
Quote examples
Ted Demme
American Director
I felt that as long as we were being honest, and that we didn't bend the truth to accomplish another goal, to be entertaining or to be a happy ending, I was confident that we'd be able to tell the story the way it happened.
Quote examples
Rony Abovitz
American Businessman
We want the digital world to bend to your physical life, your real emotional life as a person, and we don't want you to bend to computers.
Quote examples
Rajkumar Hirani
Indian Director
My natural bend is to get attracted towards things that have been an influence in my life.
Quote examples
Gary Hamel
American Businessman
When a politician bends the truth or a CEO breaks a promise, trust takes a beating.
Quote examples
Helen Keller
American Author
Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
Quote examples
Joe Buck
American Celebrity
I think people bend the truth all the time, unfortunately.
Quote examples
Mike Colter
American Actor
It's always fun to play a character that bends the rules.
Quote examples
Tony Dorsett
American Athlete
Everything starts with yourself, with you making up your mind about what you're going to do with your life. I tell kids that it's a cruel world, and that the world will bend them either left or right, and it's up to them to decide which way to bend.
Quote examples
Black Elk
Leader
My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow?
Quote examples
Abhishek Banerjee
Indian Politician
Whether you believe it or not, you have to understand the politics. In every script, there is a political bend that the writer has included. Whether you like it or not, is on you. But it's very important to know that politics.
Quote examples
Ted Demme
American Director
I felt that as long as we were being honest, and that we didn't bend the truth to accomplish another goal, to be entertaining or to be a happy ending, I was confident that we'd be able to tell the story the way it happened.
Quote examples
Rony Abovitz
American Businessman
We want the digital world to bend to your physical life, your real emotional life as a person, and we don't want you to bend to computers.
Quote examples
Rajkumar Hirani
Indian Director
My natural bend is to get attracted towards things that have been an influence in my life.
Quote examples
Gary Hamel
American Businessman
When a politician bends the truth or a CEO breaks a promise, trust takes a beating.
Quote examples
Helen Keller
American Author
Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
Quote examples
Joe Buck
American Celebrity
I think people bend the truth all the time, unfortunately.
Quote examples
Mike Colter
American Actor
It's always fun to play a character that bends the rules.
Example 1 of 10
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