LET Synonyms: 143 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'let' different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of let are charter , hire , lease , and rent . While all these words mean "to engage or grant for use at a price," hire and let , strictly speaking, are complementary terms, hire implying the act of engaging or taking for use and let the granting of use. // we hired a car for the summer // decided to let the cottage to a young couple

Q: When is it sensible to use 'charter' instead of 'let'?

While the synonyms charter and let are close in meaning, charter applies to the hiring or letting of a vehicle usually for exclusive use. // charter a bus to go to the game

Q: When could 'lease' be used to replace 'let'?

The words lease and let can be used in similar contexts, but lease strictly implies a letting under the terms of a contract but is often applied to hiring on a lease. // the diplomat leased an apartment for a year

Q: When might 'rent' be a better fit than 'let'?

Although the words rent and let have much in common, rent stresses the payment of money for the full use of property and may imply either hiring or letting. // instead of buying a house, they decided to rent // will not rent to families with children

let 1 of 2

verb

ˈlet

Definition of let

as in to allow

to give permission to my parents would not let me drive until I had a job and could pay for my own gas

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to rent

chiefly British to give the possession and use of (something) in return for periodic payment the pensioner has begun letting rooms in her home to earn some extra money

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as in to enable

to make able or possible the low gravity on the moon lets you make enormous leaps and jumps

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to tolerate

to fail to prevent (some behavior on someone's part) especially from neglect or indifference they let their kids get away with murder

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

let

2 of 2

noun

as in obstacle

something that makes movement or progress difficult artists are allowed to sell their goods in the public square without let or hindrance

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word let different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of let are charter, hire, lease, and rent. While all these words mean "to engage or grant for use at a price," hire and let, strictly speaking, are complementary terms, hire implying the act of engaging or taking for use and let the granting of use.

we hired a car for the summer

decided to let the cottage to a young couple

When is it sensible to use charter instead of let?

While the synonyms charter and let are close in meaning, charter applies to the hiring or letting of a vehicle usually for exclusive use.

charter a bus to go to the game

When could lease be used to replace let?

The words lease and let can be used in similar contexts, but lease strictly implies a letting under the terms of a contract but is often applied to hiring on a lease.

the diplomat leased an apartment for a year

When might rent be a better fit than let?

Although the words rent and let have much in common, rent stresses the payment of money for the full use of property and may imply either hiring or letting.

instead of buying a house, they decided to rent

will not rent to families with children

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of let

Verb

Rōz’s Evergreen Style Cream pairs glycerin, sunflower oil, and shea butter to moisturize and soften with carnauba wax and styling polymers for flexible definition that still lets hair move. — Christa Joanna Lee, Allure, 28 Aug. 2026 The purpose of peeing To understand a UTI’s connection to holding urine, let’s look at the function of urinating in the first place. — Alexandra Frost, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026 Many were cruise obsessives who had sampled all the high-end lines and determined that Explora was the best of the bunch––in part for its laid-back, let-your-hair-down approach to luxury. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Aug. 2026 The mechanism lets the worm find control servers using URLs that could be rapidly changed at any time. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for let

Recent Examples of Synonyms for let

Verb

This comprises five customizable ride modes for the 805 RX, plus reverse, allowing riders to adjust characteristics including power delivery, traction control and regenerative braking.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 2 Sep. 2026
Memory may be the hardware component that AI chips need to thrive, but cybersecurity is what allows an organization to adopt and deploy this technology securely.

— Zev Fima, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of allow

Verb

Google and Microsoft were both in talks with Nscale to rent AI computing capacity from the company’s massive data center project in West Virginia — a lease that ultimately went to Anthropic, a person familiar with the matter told Semafor.

— J.D. Capelouto, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2026
Carly keeps taking her new passion further, apparently spending all her tuition money on shooting a music video and renting a venue for a live performance plus merch and catering.

— Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of rent

Verb

The approach appears to be adding a midfielder who can cover larger spaces in the middle of the pitch, enabling the team to be more proactive and aggressive in their press.

— Jon Mackenzie, New York Times, 1 Sep. 2026
The advanced safety detector, which screens incoming messages for policy violations, must be manually enabled by users.

— Sarah Glodek, Fortune, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of enable

Verb

So a manufacturer’s willingness to tolerate those costs is often determined by what the law requires.

— Alison J. Stein, HubSpot, 1 Sep. 2026
The 130-micrometer polystyrene films came through untouched because spreading the same voltage across ten times the distance drops the field below what the material can tolerate.

— Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of tolerate

Noun

Both benefit from improved navigation, apparently able to avoid cables and other obstacles as small as 2mm in size, as well as transparent objects like mirrors or glass.

— Dominic Preston, The Verge, 3 Sep. 2026
The 340-pound ball is just soft enough to bounce lightly over bumpy obstacles, but its slight overpressure keeps it relatively firm.

— IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of obstacle

Verb

If physical gestures serve our relatives just fine, why did our own branch of the family tree gradually favor biological changes in our brains and anatomy that permitted our characteristic complexities in language and precision in speech?

— Mike McRae September 02, New Atlas, 3 Sep. 2026
There is no official balloon season, since flights can operate throughout the year whenever conditions permit.

— Scott Campbell, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of permit

Verb

The technology products and services arm brings in more revenue — around $251 million last year — by selling, leasing or renting Imax technology to theaters.

— Kamaron McNair Juhohn Lee, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2026
Pellicano from SkyPSI told me that SkyPSI does not manufacture drones but distributes them through a partner, allowing customers to either buy or lease them.

— Ray Fernandez, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of lease

Verb

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denied accusations that the government ignored warnings about an impending mass border crossing from Morocco to the enclave of Ceuta.

— Jack Guy, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026
The numbers are impossible to ignore, while Boteli’s bustling physical profile — two-footed, quick, and comfortable through the middle or out wide — means that a move to Europe’s top five leagues will soon be on the cards.

— Thom Harris, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of ignore

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lessors

let

let alone

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“Let.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/let. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of let

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