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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

bend to someone's will en · VERB

Meanings

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To yield to persuasion or other pressure originating from someone.
    • Bangs beset her at every turn, meeting her in her walks and rides, coming on her when she was in the field, and could not escape from him, and urging his suit with persuasions, promises, and threats, determined to win her, in spite of the most firm and decided rejection repeated again and again.[…] Bangs waxed more and more wroth at her steadfast refusal to bend to his will. 1893, Martha Finley, chapter 15, in The Tragedy of Wild River Valley:
    • Other branches of government often bent to his will. 2013 March 5, Simon Romero, "Hugo Chávez 1954-2013: A Polarizing Figure Who Led a Movement, New York Times (retrieved 23 Aug 2019)
    • […] this slavedriver, who spends his life making thousands of rough violent workmen bend to his will and sweat for him. 1919, George Bernard Shaw, Heartbreak House, act 2:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
bends to someone's will Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
bending to someone's will Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
bent to someone's will Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
bent to someone's will Tense=Past lexicographic

Relateds

bend someone's will · bend to one's will