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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

vent.

An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/vɛnt/
  1. An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.

    the vent of a cask; the vent of a mould
  2. A small aperture.

  3. An opening in a volcano from which lava or gas flows.

  4. A rant; a long session of expressing verbal frustration.

  5. The excretory opening of lower orders of vertebrates; cloaca.

  6. A slit in the seam of a garment.

  7. The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.

  8. In steam boilers, a sectional area of the passage for gases divided by the length of the same passage in feet.

  9. Opportunity of escape or passage from confinement or privacy; outlet.

  10. Emission; escape; passage to notice or expression; publication; utterance.

  11. Discharge, efflux

    obsolete · rare
Where this word comes from

Partly from Middle French vent, from Latin ventus and partly from French éventer. Cognate with French vent and Spanish viento (“wind”) and ventana (“window”). Doublet of wind.

verb/vɛnt/
  1. To allow gases to escape.

    intransitive
    The stove vents to the outside.
  2. To allow gases to escape from (a sealed space, container, etc.).

    transitive
  3. To allow to escape through a vent.

    transitive
    Exhaust is vented to the outside.
  4. To express a strong emotion.

    intransitive · transitive
    He vents his anger violently.
    Can we talk? I need to vent.
  5. To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort.

  6. To determine the sex of (a chick) by opening up the anal vent or cloaca.

    transitive
  7. Of an otter: to emerge from the water to breathe in air.

    intransitive
  8. To use a vent in the video game Among Us.

    intransitive · slang
Where this word comes from

Partly from Middle French vent, from Latin ventus and partly from French éventer. Cognate with French vent and Spanish viento (“wind”) and ventana (“window”). Doublet of wind.

noun/vɛnt/
  1. Ventriloquism.

Where this word comes from

Clipping of ventriloquism.

verb/vɛnt/
  1. To sell; to vend.

Where this word comes from

From French vente, from Latin vendere (“to sell”).

noun/vɛnt/
  1. A baiting place; an inn.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Spanish venta (“a poor inn, sale, market”).

verb/vɛnt/
  1. To ventilate; to use a ventilator; to use ventilation.

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

Clipping.

noun/vɛnt/
  1. Clipping of ventilation or ventilator.

    abbreviation · alt-of · clipping · colloquial
    I have adjusted the vent settings.
Where this word comes from

Clipping.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.