Word.ws English Dictionary

be to

be to verb: especially, to be expected to (do something). Also the ellipsis of be going to.

Verb

be to

  1. Especially, to be expected to (do something).
    • You are to hand in your essay by Friday.
    • The CEO is to announce the new company strategy tomorrow.

Also used as

be to is also the ellipsis of be going to.

Questions about be to

What does be to mean?
Be to means especially, to be expected to (do something).
What part of speech is be to?
Be to is a verb.

Words near be to in the dictionary

  1. be the case
  2. be the worse for drink
  3. be there
  4. be there and be square
  5. be there or be square
  6. be to
  7. be used to
  8. be with
  9. be worried
  10. be wrong
  11. Be'er Sheva

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: be to (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “be to.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/be_to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.