Word.ws English Dictionary

bends the rules

bends the rules is the third-person singular simple present indicative of bend the rules.

Meaning of bend the rules

Verb

bend the rules (third-person singular simple present bends the rules, present participle bending the rules, simple past and past participle bent the rules)

  1. To do something that is not normally allowed but is also not explicitly prohibited.
    • Such a mechanism could preserve individuals with mainly prosocial inclinations by enabling them to bend the rules in minor ways without suffering from guilt and without losing out in competition with free-riders.2008, Robert A. Hinde, Bending the Rules: The Flexibility of Absolutes in Modern Life, →ISBN

Questions about bends the rules

What is bends the rules the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Bends the rules is the third-person singular simple present indicative of bend the rules.

Words near bends the rules in the dictionary

  1. bends sinister
  2. bends someone's ear
  3. bends someone's will
  4. bends the brain
  5. bends the knee
  6. bends the rules
  7. bends the truth
  8. bends to one's will
  9. bends to someone's will
  10. bendsome
  11. bendways

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bends the rules (page history and authors); bend the rules (page history and authors). 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.

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