rent

¹

[ rent ]

noun

1. a payment made periodically by a tenant to a landlord in return for the use of land, a building, an apartment, an office, or other property.
2. a payment or series of payments made by a lessee to an owner in return for the use of machinery, equipment, etc.
3. Economics. the excess of the produce or return yielded by a given piece of cultivated land over the cost of production; the yield from a piece of land or real estate.
4. profit or return derived from any differential advantage in production.
5. Obsolete. revenue or income.

verb (used with object)

1. to grant the possession and enjoyment of (property, machinery, etc.) in return for the payment of rent from the tenant or lessee (often followed by out ).
2. to take and hold (property, machinery, etc.) in return for the payment of rent to the landlord or owner.

   Synonyms: lease, let

verb (used without object)

1. to be leased or let for rent:

   This apartment rents cheaply.

2. to lease or let property.
3. to take possession of and use property by paying rent:

   She rents from a friend.

rent

²

[ rent ]

noun

1. an opening made by rending or tearing; slit; fissure.

   Synonyms: fracture, rupture, rip, cleft, rift, split, tear

2. a breach of relations or union between individuals or groups; schism.

   Synonyms: separation, division

verb

1. simple past tense and past participle of rend.

rent

¹

/ rɛnt /

noun

1. a slit or opening made by tearing or rending; tear
2. a breach or division, as in relations

verb

1. the past tense and past participle of rend

rent

²

/ rɛnt /

noun

1. a payment made periodically by a tenant to a landlord or owner for the occupation or use of land, buildings, or by a user for the use of other property, such as a telephone
2. economics
   1. that portion of the national income accruing to owners of land and real property
   2. the return derived from the cultivation of land in excess of production costs
   3. See economic rent
3. for rent
   available for use and occupation subject to the payment of rent

verb

1. tr to grant (a person) the right to use one's property in return for periodic payments
2. tr to occupy or use (property) in return for periodic payments
3. introften foll byat to be let or rented (for a specified rental)

Derived Forms

• ˌrentaˈbility, noun
• ˈrentable, adjective

Other Words From

• renta·bili·ty noun
• renta·ble adjective
• un·renta·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of rent¹

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English noun rent(e), from Old French from unattested Vulgar Latin rendita, feminine past participle of unattested rendere; verb derivative of the noun; render ¹

Origin of rent²

First recorded in 1325–75 for verb sense; 1525–35 rent ²fordef 1; Middle English; rend

Word History and Origins

Origin of rent¹

C12: from Old French rente revenue, from Vulgar Latin rendere (unattested) to yield; see render

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. for rent, available to be rented, as a home or store:

   an apartment for rent.

Synonym Study

See hire.

Example Sentences

It wasn’t just a question of how the restaurant was going to pay rent month-to-month, but also how they could afford to pay what would amount to more than $30,000 in missed rent at the end of the year.

From Eater

Sherry told the Blade she and other tenants paid their rent by the week.

From Washington Blade

In addition to offering vans for rent, it’s open to members who already have their own vans.

From Outside Online

If a housing authority brings in fewer dollars from rent payments, it doesn’t get more money.

From ProPublica

Struggling restaurants say it’s a lifeline, letting them rehire bartenders, pay rent and reestablish relationships with customers.

From Fortune

The first 30 years of his life, he helped his father build and then rent out Rockefeller Center at a difficult time.

From The Daily Beast

And actual vote-buying is a pretty low-rent form of corruption anyway.

From The Daily Beast

The winter air is rent with cries from thousands of puffed up lips, begging to be let in.

From The Daily Beast

Squeezing what rent he could from the tenants, Washington moved on.

From The Daily Beast

The journey began well, as Washington managed to collect some rent from war-ravaged tenants in Cumberland.

From The Daily Beast

Rent, the share of the land-owner, offered to the classicist a rather peculiar case.

From Project Gutenberg

A fourth lives upon rent, dozing in his chair, and neither toils nor spins.

From Project Gutenberg

You may have similar qualms over rent and the rightness and wrongness of it.

From Project Gutenberg

He wishes to cultivate it still, and offers to renew the lease for any number of years, and pay the rent punctually.

From Project Gutenberg

The high rent of a Broadway store, says the economist, does not add a single cent to the price of the things sold in it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• borrow
• charter
• hire
• lease
• sublet