Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense rents, present participle renting, past tense, past participle rented
1. verb
If you rent something, you regularly pay its owner a sum of money in order to be able to have it and use it yourself.
She rents a house with three other girls. [VERB noun]
He left his hotel in a rented car. [VERB-ed]
2. verb
If you rent something to someone, you let them have it and use it in exchange for a sum of money which they pay you regularly.
She rented rooms to university students. [VERB noun + to]
Synonyms: let, lease, sublet, sublease More Synonyms of rent
Rent out means the same as rent.
He rented out his house while he worked abroad. [VERBPARTICLE noun]
He repaired the boat, and rented it out for $150. [VERB noun PARTICLE]
3. variable noun
Rent is the amount of money that you pay regularly to use a house, flat, or piece of land.
She worked to pay the rent while I went to college.
Traders in Marble Arch are facing huge rent increases.
Synonyms: hire, rental, lease, tariff More Synonyms of rent
4.
Rent is the past tense and past participle of rend.
5. See also ground rent, peppercorn rent
Phrasal verbs:
See rent out
More Synonyms of rent
rent in British English1
(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
a.
that portion of the national income accruing to owners of land and real property
b.
the return derived from the cultivation of land in excess of production costs
c. economic rent
3. for rent
verb
4. (transitive)
to grant (a person) the right to use one's property in return for periodic payments
5. (transitive)
to occupy or use (property) in return for periodic payments
6. (intransitive; often foll byat)
to be let or rented (for a specified rental)
Derived forms
rentability (ˌrentaˈbility)
noun
rentable (ˈrentable)
adjective
Word origin
C12: from Old French rente revenue, from Vulgar Latin rendere (unattested) to yield; see render
rent in British English2
(rɛnt)
noun
1.
a slit or opening made by tearing or rending; tear
2.
a breach or division, as in relations
verb
3. the past tense and past participle of rend
rent in American English1
(rɛnt)
noun
1.
a stated return or payment for the temporary possession or use of a house, land, or other property, made, usually at fixed intervals, by the tenant or user to the owner
2. Obsolete
a.
real estate or other property yielding an income
b.
income; revenue
3. Economics
a.
income from the use of land
b.
an additional amount paid or accruing to the owner of an economic resource, as a tract of land, that is the result of some special or unique attribute, as a desirable location
verb transitive
4.
a.
to get temporary possession and use of (a house, land, etc.) by paying rent
b.
to get the temporary use of (a car, tool, furniture, etc.) by paying a fee
5.
to give temporary possession and use of in return for the payment of rent or a fee;lease or let
often with out
verb intransitive
6. US
to be leased or let for rent or a fee
7.
to lease or let a place or thing
SIMILAR WORDS: hire
Idioms:
for rent
Derived forms
rentable (ˈrentable)
adjective
Word origin
ME < OFr rente < LL *rendita (pp. of *rendere: see render), for L reddita (pecunia), paid (money)
rent in American English2
(rɛnt)
noun
1.
a hole or gap made by rending or tearing, as a torn place in cloth, a fissure in the earth, etc.
2.
a breach of relations, as between persons or in an organized group; schism
Word origin
n. use of obs. or dial. rent, var. of rend
rent in American English3
(rɛnt)
verb transitive, verb intransitivept. & pp. of
rend
Examples of 'rent' in a sentence
rent
It turned out to be caused by a faulty washing machine in the rented flat upstairs.
The Sun (2016)
This brings me on to the business of renting a car.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Would all those who rent their home pay for all work to be done?
The Sun (2016)
But putting up rents could cause your property to sit empty.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The house would be rented out at 2,000 per month.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Thanks to low wages and high rents, young people are relatively poor in real terms.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Shareholders earn dividends while hoping share prices rise, just as landlords earn income from rent while hoping house prices go up.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
So I was able to pay my rent and have money to put into my masters.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Work out your property's gross yield: divide the annual rent by the price you paid for it and turn the answer into a percentage.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They live in expensive bought or rented flats.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We used to rent a house for the entire summer.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We rent out land to a farmer for his sheep.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
What a divine mercy about the last moment money for the rent!
Christianity Today (2000)
She rented a house next to a derelict building and battled constantly with damp for a year.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The buyer pays a subsidised rent on the rest.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
We should introduce specific vouchers for utilities payments and rent.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The high street chain faced shutting stores over claims rents were too high.
The Sun (2016)
Most brokers will let clients rent before they buy.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Other land holdings are agricultural and provide income from rents.
The Sun (2008)
You have to put up with renting and wait for a slump.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
In future they would have to live in rented accommodation.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He worked out it is cheaper to buy a boat than rent digs.
The Sun (2016)
Soon he was asked to mention flats for rent and job opportunities.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Vogue used to rent it for me.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
These days she rents out land for boutique festival camping.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
We so often hear it said that renting is throwing money away.
The Sun (2012)
The argument is that people seeking to rent a property are already limited in how far they can shop around.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Some of the annual rent payments are as high as 20,000.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The two became lovers, both struggling to pay the rent and dreaming of stardom.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
The total housing benefit bill has soared since the 1990s as house prices and rents have increased sharply.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
This week one resident said that she had just knocked the annual rent on her Palm villa down by two thirds to just over 1,000 a month.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
In other languages
rent
British English: rent /rɛnt/ NOUN
Rent is the amount of money that you pay regularly to use a house, flat, or piece of land.
She worked to pay the rent while I went to college.
American English: rent
Arabic: إيجار
Brazilian Portuguese: aluguel
Chinese: 租金
Croatian: najamnina
Czech: nájemné
Danish: leje
Dutch: huur
European Spanish: arriendo arrendamiento
Finnish: vuokra
French: loyer
German: Miete
Greek: ενοίκιο
Italian: affitto
Japanese: 賃貸料
Korean: 임대료
Norwegian: leie
Polish: czynsz
European Portuguese: aluguer
Romanian: chirie
Russian: арендная плата
Latin American Spanish: arriendo
Swedish: hyra
Thai: ค่าเช่า
Turkish: kira
Ukrainian: орендна плата
Vietnamese: tiền thuê
British English: rent /rɛnt/ VERB
If you rent something, you regularly pay its owner in order to have it and use it yourself.
She rents a house with three other women.
American English: rent
Arabic: يُؤَجِّرُ
Brazilian Portuguese: alugar
Chinese: 租借
Croatian: unajmiti
Czech: pronajmout
Danish: leje
Dutch: huren
European Spanish: arrendar
Finnish: vuokrata
French: louer
German: mieten
Greek: νοικιάζω
Italian: affittare
Japanese: 賃貸する
Korean: 임대하다
Norwegian: leie
Polish: wynająć
European Portuguese: alugar
Romanian: a închiria
Russian: арендовать
Latin American Spanish: arrendar
Swedish: hyra
Thai: เช่า
Turkish: kiralamak
Ukrainian: орендувати
Vietnamese: thuê
All related terms of 'rent'
rend
To rend something means to tear it.
rent-a-
denoting a rental service
cost rent
(in Britain) the rent of a dwelling calculated on the cost of providing and maintaining the property without allowing for a profit
fair rent
(in Britain) the rent for a private tenancy , fixed and registered by a rent officer , and based on the size, condition, and usefulness of the property, but not its scarcity value
for rent
available for use and occupation subject to the payment of rent
low-rent
If someone lives in a low-rent house , they only have to pay a small amount of money to live there.
rack-rent
a high rent that annually equals or nearly equals the value of the property upon which it is charged
rent book
a document that acts as a record of the regular amounts of money that you have paid as rent for accommodation
rent boy
A rent boy is a boy or young man who has sex with men for money .
rent-free
If you have a rent-free house or office, you do not have to pay anything to use it.
rent out
rent-roll
a register of lands and buildings owned by a person, company , etc, showing the rent due and total amount received from each tenant
ground rent
Ground rent is rent that is paid by the owner of a flat or house to the owner of the land on which it is built .
market rent
(in Britain) the rent chargeable for accommodation , allowing for the scarcity of that kind of property and the willingness of tenants to pay
rent rebate
a rebate on rent given by a local government authority
rent review
a provision in the lease of a business premise whereby the amount of the rent being paid is reconsidered at stated intervals , for example every three or five years
rent strike
a method of protest whereby a group of tenants with the same landlord agree to refuse to pay their rent until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord
economic rent
a payment to a factor of production (land, labour , or capital) in excess of that needed to keep it in its present use
rent-a-car
a car that can be hired for a short period of time
rent-a-mob
a group of people who are considered to always be protesting in a seemingly irrational manner, as if simply hired from a rental service for the purpose of protesting
rent arrears
Arrears are amounts of money that you owe, especially regular payments that you should have made earlier.
rent control
regulation by law of the rent landlords can charge for domestic accommodation and of their right to evict tenants
rent-seeking
the practice of attempting to maximize profits from existing sources of income rather than creating new wealth , esp by influencing government policy
peppercorn rent
A peppercorn rent is an extremely low rent.
rent-a-crowd
a group of people who are considered to always be protesting in a seemingly irrational manner, as if simply hired from a rental service for the purpose of protesting
rent allowance
money given to individuals by the government that subsidises the cost of renting a property
rent collector
a person who goes from house to house collecting rental payments for the owner of those houses
rent-controlled
regulated by law to control the rent a landlord can charge for domestic accommodation and to guarantee a landlord's right to evict tenants
rent a studio
A studio is a small flat with one room for living and sleeping in, a kitchen , and a bathroom . You can also talk about a studio flat in British English or a studio apartment in American English.
quitrent
(formerly) a rent payable by freeholders or copyholders to their lord , releasing them from liability to perform services
Chinese translation of 'rent'
rent
(rɛnt)
n(c/u)
(for building, room, land) 租金 (zūjīn) (笔, bǐ)
vt
(= hire)[building, room, land, car]租用 (zūyòng)
[house, room] (also rent out) 出租 (chūzū)
1 (verb)
Definition
to give or have use of (land, a building, a machine, etc.) in return for periodic payments
He rented a car.
Synonyms
hire
To hire a car you must produce a current driving licence.
lease
She went to Toronto, where she leased an apartment.
2 (verb)
Definition
to give or have use of (land, a building, a machine, etc.) in return for periodic payments
She rented rooms to university students.
Synonyms
let
The reasons for letting a house, or part of one, are varied.
lease
sublet
sublease
(noun)
Definition
a payment made periodically for the use of land, a building, a machine, etc.
She worked to pay the rent.
Synonyms
hire
Fishing tackle is available for hire.
rental
lease
tariff
fee
How much will the solicitor's fee be?
payment
It is reasonable to expect proper payment for this work.
1 (noun)
Definition
a slit made by tearing
a small rent in the silk
Synonyms
tear
I peered through a tear in the van's curtains.
split
The seat had a few small splits around the corners.
rip
She looked at the rip in her new dress.
slash
deep slashes in the meat
slit
Make a slit in the stem.
gash
a long gash just above his right eye
perforation
hole
2 (noun)
welling up from a rent in the ground
Synonyms
opening
He squeezed through an opening in the fence.
break
a break in the earth's surface
hole
They got in through a hole in the wall.
kids with holes in the knees of their jeans
crack
She watched him though a crack in the curtains.
breach
A large battering ram hammered a breach in the wall.
flaw
a flaw in the rock wide enough for a foot
chink
He peered through a chink in the curtains.
3 (noun)
Synonyms
division
the division between north and south
break
There is some threat of a break in relations between them.
split
a split in the party
breach
the breach between Tito and Stalin
faction
Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.
rift
They hope to heal the rift with their father.
rupture
ruptures in a 60-mile pipeline on the island
cleavage
discord
He foments discord among the allies.
schism
The church seems to be on the brink of schism.
disunity
He was accused of promoting disunity within the armed forces.
dissension
Additional synonyms
in the sense of breach
Definition
a crack, break, or gap
A large battering ram hammered a breach in the wall.
Synonyms
opening,
crack,
break,
hole,
split,
gap,
rent,
rift,
rupture,
aperture,
chasm,
cleft,
fissure
in the sense of breach
Definition
any serious disagreement or separation
the breach between Tito and Stalin
Synonyms
disagreement,
difference,
division,
separation,
falling-out (informal),
quarrel,
alienation,
variance,
severance,
disaffection,
schism,
parting of the ways,
estrangement,
dissension
in the sense of break
Definition
the act or result of breaking
a break in the earth's surface
Synonyms
fracture,
opening,
tear,
hole,
split,
crack,
gap,
rent,
breach,
rift,
rupture,
gash,
cleft,
fissure
Synonyms of 'rent'
rent
Explore 'rent' in the dictionary
Additional synonyms
in the sense of break
There is some threat of a break in relations between them.
Synonyms
breach,
split,
dispute,
separation,
rift,
rupture,
alienation,
severance,
disaffection,
schism,
estrangement,
disunion,
division
in the sense of chink
Definition
a small narrow opening
He peered through a chink in the curtains.
Synonyms
opening,
crack,
gap,
rift,
aperture,
cleft,
crevice,
fissure,
cranny
in the sense of crack
Definition
a narrow opening or fissure
She watched him though a crack in the curtains.
Synonyms
break,
chink,
gap,
breach,
fracture,
rift,
cleft,
crevice,
fissure,
cranny,
interstice
in the sense of discord
Definition
lack of agreement or harmony between people
He foments discord among the allies.
Synonyms
disagreement,
division,
conflict,
difference,
opposition,
row,
clashing,
dispute,
contention,
friction,
strife,
wrangling,
variance,
disunity,
dissension,
incompatibility,
discordance,
lack of concord
in the sense of disunity
He was accused of promoting disunity within the armed forces.
Synonyms
disagreement,
split,
breach,
dissent,
rupture,
alienation,
variance,
discord,
schism,
estrangement,
dissension,
discordance
in the sense of faction
Definition
strife within a group
Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.
Synonyms
dissension,
division,
conflict,
rebellion,
disagreement,
friction,
strife,
turbulence,
variance,
discord,
infighting,
disunity,
sedition,
tumult,
disharmony,
divisiveness
in the sense of fee
Definition
a payment asked by professional people for their services
How much will the solicitor's fee be?
Synonyms
charge,
pay,
price,
cost,
bill,
account,
payment,
wage,
reward,
hire,
salary,
compensation,
toll,
remuneration,
recompense,
emolument,
honorarium,
meed (archaic)
in the sense of flaw
Definition
an imperfection or blemish
a flaw in the rock wide enough for a foot
Synonyms
crack,
break,
split,
breach,
tear,
rent,
fracture,
rift,
cleft,
crevice,
fissure,
scission
in the sense of gash
Definition
a long deep cut
a long gash just above his right eye
Synonyms
cut,
tear,
split,
wound,
rent,
slash,
slit,
gouge,
incision,
laceration
in the sense of hole
Definition
an opening in or through something
They got in through a hole in the wall.kids with holes in the knees of their jeans
Synonyms
opening,
split,
crack,
break,
tear,
gap,
rent,
breach,
outlet,
vent,
puncture,
aperture,
fissure,
orifice,
perforation
Additional synonyms
in the sense of lease
Definition
to let or rent (land or buildings) by lease
She went to Toronto, where she leased an apartment.
Synonyms
hire,
rent,
let,
loan,
charter,
rent out,
hire out
in the sense of payment
Definition
something given in return
It is reasonable to expect proper payment for this work.
Synonyms
wages,
fee,
reward,
hire,
remuneration
in the sense of rift
Definition
a break in friendly relations between people or groups of people
They hope to heal the rift with their father.
Synonyms
breach,
difference,
division,
split,
separation,
falling out (informal),
disagreement,
quarrel,
alienation,
schism,
estrangement
in the sense of rip
Definition
a tear or split
She looked at the rip in her new dress.
Synonyms
tear,
cut,
hole,
split,
rent,
slash,
slit,
cleavage,
gash,
laceration
in the sense of rupture
Definition
the act of breaking or the state of being broken
ruptures in a 60-mile pipeline on the island
Synonyms
break,
tear,
split,
crack,
rent,
burst,
breach,
fracture,
cleavage,
cleft,
fissure
in the sense of schism
Definition
the division of a group, esp. a religious group, into opposing factions, due to differences in doctrine
The church seems to be on the brink of schism.
Synonyms
division,
break,
split,
breach,
separation,
rift,
splintering,
rupture,
discord,
disunion
in the sense of slash
Definition
a cut made by such a stroke
deep slashes in the meat
Synonyms
cut,
slit,
gash,
rent,
rip,
incision,
laceration
in the sense of slit
Definition
a long narrow cut or opening
Make a slit in the stem.
Synonyms
cut,
gash,
incision,
tear,
rent,
fissure
in the sense of split
Definition
a gap or rift caused by splitting
The seat had a few small splits around the corners.
Synonyms
crack,
tear,
rip,
damage,
gap,
rent,
breach,
slash,
slit,
fissure
in the sense of split
Definition
a division in a group or the smaller group resulting from such a division