Word.ws English Dictionary

bench

UK/ˈbɛnt͡ʃ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈbent͡ʃ/

bench noun: a long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools. Also the alternative spelling of bentsh.

bench: a long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools
Image: Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bench (plural benches)

  1. A long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools.
    • They sat on a park bench and tossed bread crumbs to the ducks and pigeons.
    • Scarborough station's famous 139-metre-long bench, believed to be the longest in the world, has been restored in a £14,500 project.2021 January 27, “Stop & Examine”, in RAIL, number 923, page 71, photo caption
  2. (figuratively) The people who decide on the verdict, collectively; the judiciary.
    • They are awaiting a decision on the motion from the bench.
  3. (figuratively) The office or dignity of a judge.
    • She sat on the bench for 30 years before she retired.
  4. A long seat for politicians in a parliamentary chamber.
    • the government front bench
    • On the opposition benches at Holyrood, Scottish Labour's transport spokesman Neil Bibby favours a more formal approach of involving passenger and worker representatives in the management of ScotRail.2022 April 6, Conrad Landin, “ScotRail in the public eye...”, in RAIL, number 954, page 40
  5. (figuratively) The dignity of holding an official seat.
    • the bench of bishops
    • the civic bench
  6. (figuratively) The people who hold a certain type of official seat, collectively; a group of officeholders.
    • Mr. Zuckerberg’s repositioning of Meta started in earnest last year, when he began rearranging his bench of lieutenants.2022 July 26, Mike Isaac, “‘Operating With Increased Intensity’: Zuckerberg Leads Meta Into Next Phase”, in The New York Times
  7. The place where players (substitutes) and coaches sit when not playing.
    • He spent the first three games on the bench, watching.
    • But Chelsea, who left Didier Drogba on the bench as coach Carlo Ancelotti favoured Fernando Torres, staged a stirring fightback to move up to fourth and keep United in their sights on a night when nothing other than victory would have kept the Blues in contention.2011 March 1, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC
    1. (figuratively) The number of players on a team able to participate, often expressed in terms of length.
      • Injuries have shortened the bench.
  8. A place where assembly or hand work is performed; a workbench.
    • She placed the workpiece on the bench, inspected it closely, and opened the cover.
  9. A horizontal padded surface, usually adjustable in height and inclination and often with attached weight rack, used for proper posture during exercise.
    • I had no bench or power rack, so by necessity every exercise I did started with the weights on the floor.2008, Lou Schuler, "Foreward", in Nate Green, Built for Show, page xii
  10. A bracket used to mount land surveying equipment onto a stone or a wall.
    • After removing the bench, we can use the mark left on the wall as a reference point.
  11. A flat ledge in the slope of an earthwork, work of masonry, or similar.
    • That number carried his glance to the top of this first bulging bench of cliff-base.1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC
  12. A thin strip of relatively flat land bounded by steeper slopes above and below.
Show 3 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (Australia, New Zealand) A kitchen surface on which to prepare food, a counter.
    Synonyms:
    benchtop
  2. (Australia, New Zealand) A bathroom surface which holds the washbasin, a vanity.
  3. A collection or group of dogs exhibited to the public, traditionally on benches or raised platforms.

Verb (1)

bench (third-person singular simple present benches, present participle benching, simple past and past participle benched)

  1. (transitive) To remove a player from play.
    • They benched him for the rest of the game because they thought he was injured.
    • OK, you are out! You’re benched!2016, Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea, spoken by hockey coach (Tate Donovan)
    Synonyms:
    sideline
  2. (figuratively, transitive) To remove someone from a position of responsibility temporarily.
  3. (slang) To push a person backward against a conspirator behind them who is on their hands and knees, causing them to fall over.
  4. (transitive) To furnish with benches.
    • 'Twas benched with turf.1700, [John] Dryden, “The Flower and the Leaf: Or, The Lady in the Arbour. A Vision.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
    • stately theatres benched crescent-wise1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part 2”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
  5. (transitive) To place on a bench or seat of honour.
    • whom I […] have benched and reared to worshipc. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

Verb (2)

bench (third-person singular simple present benches, present participle benching, simple past and past participle benched)

  1. (colloquial, intransitive, transitive) To lift by bench pressing
    • I heard he can bench 150 pounds.
    • For the first several years of my exclusive career in powerlifting, I couldn't bench too well.1988, Frederick C. Hatfield, "Powersource: Ties that bind", Ironman 47 (6): 21.

Noun (2)

bench (plural benches)

  1. The weight one is able to bench press, especially the maximum weight capable of being pressed.
    • He became frustrated when his bench increased by only 10 pounds despite a month of training.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bench

Bench (uncountable)

  1. A language spoken in Ethiopia
  2. The people who speak the Bench language

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bench

Bench (plural Benches)

  1. A surname.

Also used as

bench is also the alternative spelling of bentsh.

bench meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali

bench in Hindi

long seat
बेंच beñc
law: people who decide on the verdict
खंडपीठ khaṇḍpīṭh

bench in Marathi

long seat
बाक bāk

bench in Urdu

long seat
بِنْچ binc

bench in Bengali

long seat
টুল ṭul
More languagesFewer languages
bench in Malayalam
ബെഞ്ച്
bench in Kannada
ಬೆಂಚ್, ಬೆಂಚು
bench in Punjabi
ਬੈਂਚ
bench in Odia
ବେଞ୍ଚ, ବେଞ୍ଚ୍
bench in Sinhala
බංකුව baṁkuwa
bench in Nepali
बेन्च, बेंच, बेन्चमा
bench in Tagalog
bangko
bench in Arabic
مَقْعَد عَام maqʕad ʕām, مَصْطَبَة maṣṭaba, دَكَّة dakka, بِنْش benš
bench in Malay
bangku
bench in Indonesian
bangku
bench in Thai
ม้า máa, ม้านั่ง máa-nâng
bench in Vietnamese
ghế dài
bench in Myanmar
ခုံရှည် hkumhrany, ခုံတန်းလျား hkumtan:lya:

Examples of bench in a sentence

  • Sitting on the bench, the hem of her skirt touched the ground.
  • At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.
  • The ballplayers sat on the bench watching the rain, glumly working their chews.

All 40 example sentences with bench

Synonyms of bench

All synonyms of bench

Forms of bench

Noun
pluralbenches
alternative form (dialectal)benk
alternative form (dialectal)bink
Verb
third-person singular presentbenches
present participlebenching
past participlebenched
pastbenched
Proper noun
pluralBenches

Past tense of bench: benched

Plural of bench: benches

Origin of bench

From Middle English bench, benk, bynk, from Old English benċ (“bench”), from Proto-West Germanic *banki, from Proto-Germanic *bankiz (“bench”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeg-. Cognate with Scots benk, bink (“bench”), West Frisian bank (“bench”), Dutch bank (“bench”), German Bank (“bench”), Danish bænk (“bench”), Swedish bänk (“bench”), Icelandic bekkur (“bench”). Doublet of banc, banco, and bank.

From bench press by shortening.

See bentsh.

Words formed from bench

Phrases with bench

61 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bench

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bench

What does bench mean?
Bench means a long seat with or without a back, found for example in parks and schools.
What is bench in Hindi?
Bench in Hindi is बेंच (beñc), खंडपीठ (khaṇḍpīṭh). See Bench meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is bench?
Bench can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce bench?
Bench is pronounced /ˈbɛnt͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of bench?
The plural of bench is benches.

Words near bench in the dictionary

  1. benbens
  2. Benbow
  3. Benbows
  4. Bence
  5. Bence Jones protein
  6. bench
  7. bench bled
  8. bench bleed
  9. bench bleeded
  10. bench bleeder
  11. bench bleeders

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bench (page history and authors); Bench (page history and authors); bench (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bench (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bench (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bench (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bench (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bench.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bench.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bench. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.