vent
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A fissure in the earth's crust through which molten lava and gases erupt.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vehntIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvɛnt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt
An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.
An opening in a volcano from which lava or gas flows.
The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.
The excretory opening of lower orders of vertebrates; cloaca.
A slit in a garment (as in the back seam of a jacket)
verb
transitive
To allow gases to escape from (a sealed space, container, etc.).
transitive
To determine the sex of (a chick) by opening up the anal vent or cloaca.
transitiveintransitive
To express a strong emotion.
To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort.
To sell; to vend.
transitive
To allow to escape through a vent.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt
Used this way, vent is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use vent
- “Please open the vent to let some fresh air inside.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
The act of venting.
A speaker who expresses or gives vent to a personal opinion or grievance.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A hole for the escape of gas or air.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.