PENDENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pendent mean? 

• PENDENT (noun)
  The noun PENDENT has 2 senses:

1. an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry (necklace or earring)

2. branched lighting fixture; often ornate; hangs from the ceiling

  Familiarity information: PENDENT used as a noun is rare.

• PENDENT (adjective)
  The adjective PENDENT has 1 sense:

1. held from above and hanging down

  Familiarity information: PENDENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PENDENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry (necklace or earring)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

pendant; pendent

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

adornment (a decoration of color or interest that is added to relieve plainness)

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

lavalier; lavaliere; lavalliere (jeweled pendant worn on a chain around the neck)

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

necklace (jewelry consisting of a cord or chain (often bearing gems) worn about the neck as an ornament (especially by women))

drop earring; eardrop; pendant earring (an earring with a pendant ornament)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Branched lighting fixture; often ornate; hangs from the ceiling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

chandelier; pendant; pendent

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

lighting fixture (a fixture providing artificial light)

• PENDENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Held from above and hanging down

Synonyms:

dependent; pendant; pendent

Context example:

a pendant bunch of grapes

Similar:

supported (held up or having the weight borne especially from below)

 Context examples 

The Black and Tan Coonhound is a large, powerful working hound with long pendent ears.

(Black and Tan Coonhound, NCI Thesaurus)

The pendent ears hang down limply beside the head.

(German Wirehaired Pointer, NCI Thesaurus)

The Lowchen, also called the Little Lion, has a short head with pendent, feathered ears.

(Low Chen, NCI Thesaurus)

No one answered; but a form emerged from the closet; it took the light, held it aloft, and surveyed the garments pendent from the portmanteau.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was enough that in yonder closet, opposite my dressing-table, garments said to be hers had already displaced my black stuff Lowood frock and straw bonnet: for not to me appertained that suit of wedding raiment; the pearl-coloured robe, the vapoury veil pendent from the usurped portmanteau.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Traversing the long and matted gallery, I descended the slippery steps of oak; then I gained the hall: I halted there a minute; I looked at some pictures on the walls (one, I remember, represented a grim man in a cuirass, and one a lady with powdered hair and a pearl necklace), at a bronze lamp pendent from the ceiling, at a great clock whose case was of oak curiously carved, and ebon black with time and rubbing.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I was carried into an inn, where the guard wanted me to have some dinner; but, as I had no appetite, he left me in an immense room with a fireplace at each end, a chandelier pendent from the ceiling, and a little red gallery high up against the wall filled with musical instruments.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)