Rent Meaning
/ˈɹɛnt/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA payment made by a tenant at intervals in order to lease a property.
nounA similar payment for the use of a product, equipment or a service.
Sentence Examples
You should pay your rent in advance.
When I go on vacation, I'll rent a car.
I earn just about enough to pay the rent.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Instead of buying a house, they decided to ____ a flat downtown.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She struggled to pay the monthly ____ after losing her job and had to ask her family for help.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English rent, rente, from Old French rente, from Early Medieval Latin rendita, from Late Latin rendere, from Latin reddere.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"We never ever argue, we never calculate / The currency we've spent / I love you, you pay my rent"
— 1987, “Rent”, in Actually, performed by Pet Shop Boys:
"So bought an annual rent or two, / And liv'd, just as you see I do."
— 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:
"[O]ne streak of copper-coloured light made a narrow rent between sea and sky."
— 1876, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “The Cruel Crawling Foam”, in Joshua Haggard’s Daughter […], volume I, London: John Maxwell and Co. […], →OCLC, page 1:
"The brown paint on the door was so old that the naked wood showed between the rents."
— 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter X, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Instead of buying a house, they decided to ____ a flat downtown.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She struggled to pay the monthly ____ after losing her job and had to ask her family for help.