rent

/rɛnt/

/rɛnt/

Other forms: rents; rented; renting

To rent something is to pay money to use it, live in it, or borrow it. If you're not sure which musical instrument you'll stick with and enjoy playing, it's best to rent a few to try out before buying.

Rent is both a verb and a noun for borrowing or leasing something. If you rent an apartment, you pay money to live there, and that money is also rent. You can rent many things, from skates at a roller rink to furniture for the home you rent. You don't own things you rent — you just use them temporarily. A rent is also a rip: "She fell and tore a big rent in one knee of her jeans."

Definitions of rent

1. noun

   a payment or series of payments made by the lessee to an owner for use of some property, facility, equipment, or service
   types:

   ground rent

   payment for the right to occupy and improve a piece of land

   peppercorn rent

   very low or nominal rent

   rack rent

   an extortionate rent

   type of:

   annuity in advance

   an annuity paid in a series of more or less equal payments at the beginning of equally spaced periods
2. verb

   let for money
   “We rented our apartment to friends while we were abroad”

   synonyms: lease

   type of:

   contract, undertake

   enter into a contractual arrangement
3. verb

   engage for service under a term of contract
   “Let's rent a car”

   synonyms: charter, engage, hire, lease, take

   type of:

   acquire, get

   come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
4. verb

   hold under a lease or rental agreement; of goods and services
   synonyms: charter, hire, lease

   type of:

   contract, undertake

   enter into a contractual arrangement
5. verb

   grant use or occupation of under a term of contract
   synonyms: lease, let

   types:

   sublease, sublet

   lease or rent all or part of (a leased or rented property) to another person

   type of:

   give

   transfer possession of something concrete or abstract to somebody
6. verb

   tear or be torn violently
   synonyms: pull, rend, rip, rive

   type of:

   bust, rupture, snap, tear

   separate or cause to separate abruptly
7. noun

   the act of rending or ripping or splitting something
   synonyms: rip, split

   type of:

   tear

   the act of tearing
8. noun

   an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart
   synonyms: rip, snag, split, tear

   type of:

   gap, opening

   an open or empty space in or between things
9. noun

   the return derived from cultivated land in excess of that derived from the poorest land cultivated under similar conditions
   synonyms: economic rent

   type of:

   issue, payoff, proceeds, return, take, takings, yield

   the income or profit arising from such transactions as the sale of land or other property