Library / English Dictionary

VENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Activity that frees or expresses creative energy or emotion

Example:

he gave vent to his anger

Synonyms:

outlet; release; vent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("vent" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Derivation:

vent (give expression or utterance to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

External opening of urinary or genital system of a lower vertebrate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("vent" is a kind of...):

opening; orifice; porta (an aperture or hole that opens into a bodily cavity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A hole for the escape of gas or air

Synonyms:

blowhole; vent; vent-hole; venthole

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vent" is a kind of...):

hole (an opening deliberately made in or through something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "vent"):

smoke hole (a vent (as in a roof) for smoke to escape)

Holonyms ("vent" is a part of...):

air duct; air passage; airway (a duct that provides ventilation (as in mines))

Derivation:

ventilate (expose to cool or cold air so as to cool or freshen)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A slit in a garment (as in the back seam of a jacket)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("vent" is a kind of...):

slit (a long narrow opening)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A fissure in the earth's crust (or in the surface of some other planet) through which molten lava and gases erupt

Synonyms:

vent; volcano

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("vent" is a kind of...):

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure (a long narrow opening)

Domain member category:

eructation; eruption; extravasation ((of volcanos) pouring out fumes or lava (or a deposit so formed))

active ((of e.g. volcanos) erupting or liable to erupt)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expose to cool or cold air so as to cool or freshen

Example:

air out the smoke-filled rooms

Synonyms:

air; air out; vent; ventilate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "vent" is one way to...):

freshen; refresh (make (to feel) fresh)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

venting (the act of venting)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give expression or utterance to

Example:

The graduates gave vent to cheers

Synonyms:

give vent; vent; ventilate

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "vent" is one way to...):

evince; express; show (give expression to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

vent (activity that frees or expresses creative energy or emotion)

venter (a speaker who expresses or gives vent to a personal opinion or grievance)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Good fortune opens the hand as well as the heart wonderfully; and to give somewhat when we have largely received, is but to afford a vent to the unusual ebullition of the sensations.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When night came I quitted my retreat and wandered in the wood; and now, no longer restrained by the fear of discovery, I gave vent to my anguish in fearful howlings.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Scientists say that places where water and rock interact are important for the development of life; for example, it's possible life began on Earth in bubbling vents on our sea floor.

(Ganymede may harbor 'club sandwich' of oceans and ice, NASA)

The bear advanced clumsily a couple of steps, reared up, and gave vent to a tentative growl.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Her thinness seemed to be the effect of some wasting fire within her, which found a vent in her gaunt eyes.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But sometimes, straying off to the edge of the woods by himself, he gave vent to his grief, and cried it out with loud whimperings and wailings.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Studying life around deep-sea hydrothermal vents near Japan's island of Okinawa, microbiologists led by a team from the University of Vienna found that certain microbes thrive in conditions similar to those on Enceladus.

(Scientists: Life Can Thrive in Most Extreme Environments, George Putic/VOA)

The organic material is injected into the ocean by hydrothermal vents on the floor of Enceladus' ocean - something akin to the hydrothermal sites found at the bottom of the oceans on Earth, which are one of the possible environments that scientists investigate for the emergence of life on our own planet.

(Complex Organics Bubble up from Enceladus, NASA)

Whatever his feelings might have been, Laurie found a vent for them in a long low whistle and the fearful prediction as they parted at the gate, "Mark my words, Jo, you'll go next."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Using the same observing method that detects atmospheres around planets orbiting other stars, the team realized if there was water vapor venting from Europa's surface, this observation would be an excellent way to see it.

(Possible Water Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa, NASA)