[3] She was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school,[4] with a term at Eton College to study for Oxbridge entrance exams.

[6] Upon graduation she spent a year in New York teaching German, until her visa expired and she returned to the UK.

[7] Dent is well known as the resident lexicographer and adjudicator for the letters rounds on Channel 4's longest-running game show, Countdown.

She began working on Countdown in 1992 at the insistence of her boss, Simon, at Oxford University Press (OUP).

[8] At first she declined the Countdown offer, but her boss explained that her appearance on the show formed part of her OUP employment contract and she agreed to take the role.

[19][20] Dent was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 Birthday Honours for services to literature and to language.

[21] From 2003 to 2007, Dent was the author of a series of yearly Language Reports for the Oxford University Press (OUP).