Word.ws English Dictionary

became

Syllables: be·came/bɪˈkeɪm/

became is the simple past of become.

became is the past participle of become.

Meaning of become

Verb

become (third-person singular simple present becomes, present participle becoming, simple past became or (dialectal) become, past participle become or (dialectal) became or becomen)

  1. (copulative) begin to be; turn into (often with permanent states).
    • Near-synonyms: get, turn, go, come, fall, grow, wax
    Synonyms:
    get, turn, go, come, fall, grow, wax
  2. (intransitive, archaic other than in become of) To come about; happen; come into being; arise.
    • What became of him after he was let go?
  3. (transitive) To be appropriate for.
    • It doesn’t become a true gentleman to speak in such a manner.
    Synonyms:
    befit, suit, beseem
  4. (transitive) Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone).
    • That dress really becomes you.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To arrive, come (to a place).
    • & thenne the noble knyghte sire Launcelot departed with ryghte heuy chere sodenly / that none erthely creature wyste of hym / nor where he was become / but sir Bors1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter II, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVIII
  6. (non-native speakers' English) To get, receive.
    • The "Buddy Mode" is an option you can use if you are playing against a friend on your computer. Then both human players become help by another, randomly choosed computer controlled wrestler.^([sic])1997 February 12, Mathias van Gemmern, “WWF95/BuddyMode”, in bit.listserv.games-l (Usenet), via Google Groups, archived from the original on 24 Apr 2026

Phrases with became

Words that rhyme with became

37 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about became

What is became the simple past of?
Became is the simple past of become.
How do you pronounce became?
Became is pronounced /bɪˈkeɪm/.

Words near became in the dictionary

  1. becalmed
  2. becalming
  3. becalmment
  4. becalmments
  5. becalms
  6. became
  7. became of
  8. became one flesh
  9. became the Joker
  10. becamedst
  11. becamest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: became (page history and authors); become (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-became.ogg.

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