Synonyms of bends

bends 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of bend

1

as in arches

to cause to turn away from a straight line

she bent the blade of the knife when she got it jammed in the drawer

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arches
• hooks
• curves
• bows
• twists
• swerves
• curls
• turns
• waves
• crooks
• deflects
• veers
• swirls
• rounds
• inflects
• reflects
• weaves
• arcs
• loops
• diverts
• coils
• spirals
• warps
• meanders
• kinks
• inclines
• winds
• entwines
• twines
• slopes
• dents
• dimples
• incurves
• incurvates
• enrolls
• declines

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• straightens
• unbends
• uncurls

2

as in devotes

to occupy (oneself) diligently or with close attention

bent herself to the task for the rest of the day

Synonyms & Similar Words

• devotes
• applies
• gives
• buckles
• commits
• addresses
• gets cracking
• works
• gets with it
• turns one's hand
• spends
• sets (to)
• gets one's act together
• settles (down)
• reapplies
• stresses
• exerts
• exhausts
• engages
• involves
• troubles
• busies
• concerns
• humps
• wears out
• readdresses
• knuckles down
• hustles
• plows
• taxes
• grinds
• plunges (in)
• strains
• puts out
• plods
• pitches in
• carries on
• plugs (away)
• pegs (away)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• plays
• idles
• dawdles
• dallies
• fools around
• fiddles (around)
• trifles
• putters (around)
• messes around
• monkeys (around)
• potters (around)
• dillydallies

3

as in aims

to point or turn (something) toward a target or goal

bent all of his efforts toward making his first documentary film

Synonyms & Similar Words

• aims
• casts
• directs
• holds
• heads
• sets
• levels
• trains
• focuses
• pinpoints
• steers
• sights
• faces
• concentrates
• inclines
• orients
• bears

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• curves
• deflects
• diverts
• shunts
• averts
• detours
• sidetracks
• rechannels

4

as in curves

to turn away from a straight line or course

the stream bends slightly to the east

Synonyms & Similar Words

• curves
• sweeps
• bows
• turns
• arches
• swerves
• trends
• rounds
• winds
• falls off
• wheels
• loops
• hooks
• arcs
• curls
• spirals
• circles
• coils
• crooks
• curlicues
• twists
• deviates
• veers

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• straightens

5

as in distorts

to change so much as to create a wrong impression or alter the meaning of

attorneys bending the facts to put their client in the most favorable light

Synonyms & Similar Words

• distorts
• misrepresents
• twists
• warps
• slants
• falsifies
• cooks
• perverts
• misinterprets
• complicates
• misstates
• obscures
• garbles
• colors
• fudges
• misrelates
• confuses
• censors
• mistakes
• misspeaks
• masks
• disguises
• dissembles
• misdescribes
• mistranslates
• camouflages
• bowdlerizes
• whitewashes
• veils
• lies
• glosses (over)
• prevaricates
• belies
• mystifies
• equivocates
• mixes (up)
• palters
• confounds
• fibs

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• explains
• interprets
• illustrates
• clarifies
• illuminates
• spells out
• clears (up)
• deciphers

6

as in attaches

to cause (something) to hold to another

bend a leash to the dog's collar

Synonyms & Similar Words

• attaches
• affixes
• ties
• glues
• connects
• clips
• fastens
• straps
• fixes
• adheres
• clamps
• hangs
• clenches
• sticks
• pins
• links
• screws
• clasps
• harnesses
• tackles
• tacks
• nails
• clinches
• latches
• rivets
• toggles
• joins
• yokes
• lashes
• staples
• cinches
• shackles
• bolts
• laces
• unites
• reattaches
• pastes
• buttons
• plasters
• coapts
• hasps
• refastens
• resecures
• reaffixes
• battens
• refixes
• belays
• does up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• detaches
• splits
• undoes
• unfastens
• unhooks
• divides
• parts
• disconnects
• separates
• severs
• dissociates
• breaks up
• divorces
• loosens
• uncouples
• sunders
• disjoins
• looses
• disunites
• unties
• dissevers
• disjoints
• unlinks
• unbinds
• unyokes
• unfixes
• unlashes

bends

2 of 2

noun

plural of bend

1

as in curvatures

something that curves or is curved

it's hard to see around that bend in the road, so be careful

Synonyms & Similar Words

• curves
• curvatures
• turns
• angles
• winds
• folds
• bows
• arches
• arcs
• crooks
• inflections
• twists
• corners
• curls
• slopes
• warps
• windings
• coils
• loops
• rings
• swirls
• spirals
• circles
• inclines
• buckles
• kinks
• convolutions
• reflections
• rounds
• ringlets
• flexures
• curlicues
• inclinations
• hairpins
• declines
• doglegs
• incurvatures
• turnoffs

2

as in tilts

the act of positioning or an instance of being positioned at an angle

did knee bends for exercise

Synonyms & Similar Words

• tilts
• tips
• lists
• cocks
• nods
• inclinations
• twists
• anglings
• turns
• dips
• bows
• veers

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of bends

Verb

Instead, what the data keeps describing is a consumer who bends in specific, visible places, adapts and stubbornly declines to break in aggregate. — Nigel Morris, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026

Lauren then bends over, using the cloth to dab away her tears. — Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 10 Aug. 2026

For example, when light bends around a sharp obstacle or boundary, such as a knife edge, the waves bend and interfere with one another to create bands of dark and bright light. — Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026

The liquid metal provides an electrical pathway that can deform with the surrounding rubber-like material instead of snapping when the skin bends or stretches. — New Atlas, 4 Aug. 2026

The story of McCarthy’s life was written on this winding street that snakes through a small, working-class corner of Pittsburgh where the Monongahela River bends. — Mike Defabo, New York Times, 27 July 2026

The pattern gets its name because the jet stream bends into a shape that resembles the Greek letter Ω (omega) on weather maps. — Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 27 July 2026

To have so much capability crammed into a phone that bends in half is a marvel. — Eric Zeman, PC Magazine, 22 July 2026

Oceania Allura berths at Moll Adossat, 10 minutes from La Rambla, but the day here bends away from the boulevard. — Condé Nast Traveler, 15 July 2026

Noun

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s signature boho bends were another defining example of Surf Spray’s cool-girl appeal. — Lauren Valenti, InStyle, 31 July 2026

Part of that attention is aimed at Burwell’s score, a masterpiece of electronic minimalism in which pitch bends and hard clashes create the dread and whiplash that make the film so tense. — Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2026

The course then winds through a series of bends before leading drivers onto 7th Street. — Mike Stunson, USA Today, 20 July 2026

Voros kept one camera permanently stationed at the highest point of the surrounding hillside; the early episodes are built on stark, isolating compositions where a single figure is dwarfed by snowcapped peaks and river bends. — Condé Nast Traveler, 14 July 2026

When two stars align almost perfectly from Earth’s perspective, the gravity of the nearer one bends and magnifies the light from the more distant star, acting like a cosmic magnifying glass. — Sam MacDonald, Scientific American, 6 July 2026

Some three hours into the four-hour drive, the road plunged into a dizzying scribble of hairpin bends, eventually spitting us out into the Colca Valley, where, at the end of 2023, Andean pitched up Puqio. — Chris Schalkx, Travel + Leisure, 4 July 2026

Adidas’s 1994 Predator added strips of rubber on the shoe’s toe, which provided extra grip that the company and players say translated to bigger, curvier bends on the ball. — Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 2 July 2026

The loop then reaches Schengen and the Moselle Valley, where vineyards, river bends and wine villages lead travelers back toward the east. — Emese MacZko, Forbes.com, 1 July 2026