lend-lease
lend-lease
Pronunciation
/ˈlɛndˌliːs/
lend /lɛnd/:
/l/: Voiced alveolar lateral approximant
/ɛ/: Open-mid front unrounded vowel
/n/: Voiced alveolar nasal
/d/: Voiced alveolar plosive
lease /liːs/:
/l/: Voiced alveolar lateral approximant
/iː/: Close front unrounded vowel (long)
/s/: Voiceless alveolar sibilant
Word Form Variations
Singular Noun: lend-lease
Plural Noun: lend-leases
Verb: lend-lease
Verb (Third-person singular present): lend-leases
Verb (Past tense): lend-leased
Verb (Present participle): lend-leasing
Adjective: lend-lease
Definitions, Synonyms and Antonyms
Noun
Definition 1: A policy under which the U.S. supplied Allied nations with war materials (such as warships, planes, and other military equipment) during World War II, on the understanding that payment would be made later or that the materials would be returned.
Synonyms: aid package, military assistance, supply program, war support
Antonyms: embargo, isolationism, non-intervention
Definition 2: Any similar program of providing goods or services to another party under an agreement for eventual repayment or return, often for strategic or diplomatic purposes.
Synonyms: mutual aid, logistical support, strategic partnership
Antonyms: trade sanction, economic blockade, non-cooperation
Verb
Definition: To supply war materials or other goods to a foreign nation under a lend-lease agreement.
Synonyms: provision, furnish, equip, supply, provide assistance
Antonyms: withhold, embargo, boycott, restrict
Examples of Use
Books and Historical Publications
"In a book published in 1969 and reissued by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2019, author Warren F. Kimball detailed the history of the policy, calling it The Most Unsordid Act: Lend-Lease, 1939-1941."
"The United States was officially neutral, but the destroyers-for-bases deal and the later lend-lease program made it clear that American sympathies lay with Britain." (Michael Beschloss, The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945, 2002)
Newspapers and Online Publications
"A number of politicians have proposed using a modern-day lend-lease program to expedite the flow of military equipment to Ukraine, drawing a parallel to the World War II-era policy." (Merriam-Webster, February 2025)
"The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Ukraine Democracy Lend-Lease Act, a measure designed to give the President greater authority to lend and lease military equipment to Ukraine." (Associated Press, April 2022)
Entertainment Media and Platforms
"The film Dunkirk shows the desperate situation in Britain, which was a major factor in the U.S. decision to begin the lend-lease program."
"In a documentary about the war, historians explain how the Soviet Union's use of American-made trucks and other vehicles, sent through lend-lease, was crucial for their victory on the Eastern Front." (National WWII Museum, July 2024)
Public Discourse
"During the debate over supporting Ukraine, one commentator argued, 'This isn't about giving money away; this is about a strategic investment in our allies, a modern form of lend-lease to ensure our own security.'"
"A historian speaking on a podcast discussed how the debate over the 1941 Lend-Lease Act was a significant turning point in American foreign policy, moving the country away from isolationism and toward a more internationalist role."
10 Famous Quotes Using Lend-Lease
"I want to tell you what, from the Russian point of view, the president and the United States have done for victory in this war... Without the machines we received through lend-lease, we would have lost the war." - Joseph Stalin (as cited by RFE/RL and the National WWII Museum, November 1943)
"The lend-lease bill must be regarded without question as the most unsordid act in the whole of recorded history." - Winston Churchill (Speech at Mansion House, London, November 1941)
"At about that same time he devised the extraordinary measure of assistance called Lend-Lease, which will stand forth as the most unselfish and unsordid financial act of any country in all history." - Winston Churchill (Eulogy for President Roosevelt, 1945)
"The proposed 'new order' is the very opposite of a United States of Europe or a United States of Asia... The British people and their allies today are conducting an active war against this unholy alliance. ...They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters which will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security... We must aid Great Britain." - Tom Connally (as quoted by Teaching American History, February 1941, in support of the Lend-Lease bill)
"The legislation establishing the Lend-Lease program gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the power to sell, transfer, exchange or lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against Axis powers." - National Archives (March 11, 1941)
"America first and not the lend-lease bill is the policy that will keep this country out of war." - Charles Lindbergh (as reported by The Washington Post, February 1941)
"This is not a bill to get us into war, it is a bill to keep us out of war. It will enable us to become the 'great arsenal of democracy,' and through lend-lease to give the brave British people and others the tools to fight our common enemies." - Representative John W. McCormack (Congressional Record, March 1941)
"He [Stalin] stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war." - Nikita Khrushchev, in his memoirs, describing Stalin's view on Lend-Lease (as cited by U.S. Embassy in Italy)
"This act would give the President power to ‘lend, lease, sell, transfer, exchange, or otherwise dispose of’ defense articles to any country whose defense he deemed vital to the security of the United States." - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, describing the purpose of the Lend-Lease Act
"The lend-lease agreement was an innovative program designed to help nations already at war with Germany and Japan." - U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
Etymology
The word "lend-lease" is a compound word, which means it's formed by combining two separate words: "lend" and "lease."
"Lend" comes from Old English "lænan", which meant to give something to someone for a temporary period, with the expectation that it will be returned.
"Lease" comes from Old French "laisse", meaning a grant or a letting go, and it refers to an agreement where one person gives another the temporary use of something in exchange for payment.
The term "lend-lease" was created to describe a very specific American policy during World War II. The United States wanted to help its allies, like Great Britain, fight against Germany, but it couldn't simply give away all of its military equipment because that might have violated its official neutrality.
The government's lawyers came up with the word to describe a new kind of arrangement. The idea was that the U.S. would not simply "give" the weapons to its allies (a "gift"), nor would it strictly "rent" them (a "lease"). Instead, it would "lend" the equipment, which would be returned or replaced after the war was over. President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously used the analogy of lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was on fire.
The first known use of the term was in the early 1940s, specifically in the context of the Lend-Lease Act proposed to the U.S. Congress. The word's meaning was directly tied to the law itself, which was passed in March 1941. It was immediately understood as a name for the program of providing military aid to the Allied nations without immediate payment.
Phrases + Idioms Containing Lend-Lease
A lend-lease agreement - A formal contract outlining the terms of a lend-lease arrangement.
To operate on a lend-lease basis - To use a system where goods are provided with the understanding they will be returned or replaced later.
Lend-lease mentality - A way of thinking that prioritizes mutual support and shared resources for a common goal.
A new lend-lease - A phrase used to describe a modern-day policy or program that resembles the original World War II initiative, especially in the context of international aid.
A kind of lend-lease - A casual phrase to describe a situation where someone borrows something for an indefinite amount of time, with no immediate expectation of return.
"It's a lend-lease situation." - An idiom to describe a scenario where you've been given temporary use of an item, knowing it belongs to someone else and may be reclaimed.
"We're running on lend-lease." - A metaphorical phrase suggesting that a person or group is operating with borrowed or external resources, not their own.
To put something on lend-lease - To make an item available for others to use temporarily, especially in a collaborative or crisis situation.
Lend-lease of technology - A modern phrase referring to the temporary sharing of advanced technology between nations or companies for mutual benefit.
The lend-lease model - A term used to describe any system of reciprocal aid where a party provides resources to another in exchange for a future benefit or return.
Vocabulary-Based Stories from SEA
Source Information
Definition of lend-lease from The Academic Glossary at Self Exploration Academy, a Urikville Press Publication. © All rights reserved.
