Intermediate+ Word of the Day: render

render (verb) /ˈrɛndɚ/

A painting of a landscape rendered in bright colors

To render means ‘to make something become something’ as well as ‘to provide,’ whether it is a service or aid. Render also means ‘to pay’ or ‘to submit something for payment’ and ‘to deliver officially’ as well. In addition, render means ‘to translate’ or ‘to represent in drawing or painting.’ Render also means ‘to melt down,’ as done with fat, or ‘to process the carcass of an animal for industrial use.’ In most of these senses render is rather formal.

Example sentences

• The shock rendered John speechless.
• This organization renders assistance to vulnerable people.
• Everyone who works has to render taxes to the state.
• The company rendered its account to the customer.
• The translator specializes in rendering French literary texts in English.
• The artist renders the still life in oil paints.
• Part of the candle is rendered from animal fat.

Words often used with render

Render also means ‘to surrender, yield, or give’; in this sense it is often used with the adverb up. Example: “The Queen rendered up the lands south of the river to her enemies.”

It can also mean ‘to return or give back,’ and in this sense it is often used with the adverb back. Example: “The company rents out cars on the condition that they are rendered back at the proper time and in the same condition.”

Additional information

Render, as a noun, is also a building term for the hard plaster that covers the outside of buildings.

Did you know?

Rendering, by analogy with the artistic sense, is also the process of generating an image from a 2D or 3D model, used in a number of fields, such as architecture and visual effects used in TV, film, and video games.

Other forms

renderable (adjective)

Origin

Render first appeared in Middle English in the late 13th century, as the verb rendren, meaning ‘to repeat, say again or give back.’ It came into English through the Middle French rendre, meaning ‘to give back, present or yield,’ but it originated in the Vulgar Latin rendere, an alteration of the Latin reddere (to give back). The word rent has the same origin: it comes from rendita, the past participle of the Vulgar Latin rendere.

Render was suggested from Japan