What does sent mean?
Sent is the past tense and past participle of send, so it marks an action as completed. A person or thing has been dispatched, transmitted, or conveyed to a destination: a letter has been sent, a message has been sent, or supplies have been sent ahead. In everyday use, the word is completely neutral and appears in personal, professional, and institutional contexts. It can suggest intentional communication, especially when a message, gift, document, or package is involved, but it does not necessarily imply that the recipient read, received, or responded to what was sent. Because it is an inflected form rather than an independent lexical item, it normally cannot stand alone without the word “send” or another suitable grammatical context. Sent is also homophonous with “scent” in many English accents, making the two words easy to confuse in speech.
verbSent is the past tense and past participle of send. It describes something dispatched or transmitted to someone or somewhere.
- Past tense and past participle of send.
"She sent the letter to her colleague on Monday."
"The package was sent through the courier service."
"They sent an invitation to all the guests."
The word “sent” quietly carries an entire journey: something leaves its origin and arrives somewhere else.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does sent come from?
Sent derives from the Old English verb sendan, meaning “to send” or “to set in motion.” The modern form developed through Middle English, where sent became the established past tense and past participle. Related forms include the base verb send and the noun sender, while the word shares cognates with Dutch zenden and German senden.
How sent is actually used
Sent is neutral in register and is used in both British and American English. It normally requires an object or a clear object complement, as in “sent the report.”
Easily confused with sent
Sent is the past tense of send, whereas a scent is an odor or fragrance.