Render means to give, provide, or deliver something, especially something that's needed or requested. When a doctor renders medical assistance, she provides help to an injured person. When an artist renders a scene, he creates a detailed drawing or painting of it. The word suggests careful attention: you don't just toss something at someone, you render it properly.

In older or formal writing, you might see phrases like “render aid” or “render service,” meaning to give help when it's needed. A translator renders words from one language into another, working carefully to preserve the original meaning.

The word also appears in cooking: when you render fat from bacon, you cook it slowly until the fat melts and separates from the meat, leaving you with crispy bacon and useful cooking fat.

In computer graphics, rendering means the process of creating a final image from a 3D model. When animators render a scene in a movie, powerful computers calculate how light, shadows, and textures should look, transforming digital information into the images you see on screen. This process can take hours or even days for complex scenes.

Render can also mean to cause something to become a certain way. A single mistake might render your careful plan useless, meaning it makes the plan no longer work.