anent

preposition

\ ə-ˈnent

\

Definition of anent

: about, concerning

Did You Know?

Anent looks like a rather old-fashioned word. It is, in fact, very old (an earlier sense of the word can be found in Beowulf, from approximately 800 A.D.), and at one point it was almost obsolete. It had nearly died out by the 17th century, but it was revived in the 19th century. Various usage commentators have decried "anent" as "affected" and "archaic." It is not archaic, however. Although "anent" is rarely found in speech, plenty of examples of current use can be found in written sources. Dead words do occasionally rise from the grave, and "anent" is one of them.

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about anent

Listen to Our Podcast about anent

Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP

Dictionary Entries near anent

an end in itself

Statistics for anent

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for anent

The first known use of anent was in the 13th century

See more words from the same century

WORD OF THE DAY

substantive

important, real, or meaningful

Test Your Vocabulary

Homophone Quiz

In order to judge how people felt, the senator's office hired a firm to take a ______.

pol poal
poll pole

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

TAKE THE QUIZ

SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games