Word.ws English Dictionary

beckon

/ˈbɛkən/

beckon verb: to wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.

Verb

beckon (third-person singular simple present beckons, present participle beckoning, simple past and past participle beckoned)

  1. (ambitransitive) To wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.
    • It beckons you to go away with it.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • His distant friends, he beckons near.1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  2. (ambitransitive) To seem attractive and inviting.
    • The election come and gone, work beyond political organizing beckoned.1980 February 16, Lisa Nussbaum, “Even in the Suburbs”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 29, page 10
    • How the gentle wind / Beckons through the leaves / As autumn colors fall2016, “Into the Unknown”, in Brandon Michael Armstrong, Joshua Ross Kaufman, Justin Isaac Rubenstein, Patrick Nolen McHale (lyrics), Over the Garden Wall (Original Television Soundtrack), performed...

Noun

beckon (plural beckons)

  1. A sign made without words; a beck.
    • At the first beckon.c. 1734, Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, A Dissertation on Parties
    • He turn to me, make a beckon with the key in his hand.2020, Abi Daré, The Girl With The Louding Voice, Sceptre, page 110
  2. A children's game similar to hide and seek in which children who have been "caught" may escape if they see another hider beckon to them.

beckon meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

beckon in Tamil

தலை, கைகள் முதலியவற்றால் சைகை காட்டு, வருமாறு சைகை காட்டு, கவர்ந்திழு

beckon in Urdu

beckon
اشارے سے بلانا iśāre se bulānā

beckon in Bengali

ইশারা করা, হাত নেড়ে ডাকা, প্রলুব্ধ করা, হাতছানি দেওয়া

beckon in Malayalam

മാടിവിളിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
beckon in Kannada
ಕರೆ
beckon in Sanskrit
ह्वे hve
beckon in Arabic
أَشَارَ ʔašāra, أَوْمَأَ ʔawmaʔa
beckon in Persian
اشارت کردن ešârat kardan

Examples of beckon in a sentence

  • A masterplan beckons too for Inverness, in line with long-standing local wishes.
  • The aroma of baking pastry beckoned from the confectionery next door.
  • Then a point of light beckoned me and I strove for it.

All 31 example sentences with beckon

Forms of beckon

Verb
third-person singular presentbeckons
present participlebeckoning
past participlebeckoned
pastbeckoned
Noun
pluralbeckons

Past tense of beckon: beckoned

Origin of beckon

From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.

Words formed from beckon

Phrases with beckon

Words that rhyme with beckon

Questions about beckon

What does beckon mean?
Beckon means to wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer.
What is beckon in Tamil?
Beckon in Tamil is தலை, கைகள் முதலியவற்றால் சைகை காட்டு, வருமாறு சைகை காட்டு. See Beckon meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is beckon?
Beckon can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce beckon?
Beckon is pronounced /ˈbɛkən/ (UK).
What is the past tense of beckon?
The past tense of beckon is beckoned.

Words near beckon in the dictionary

  1. Becknells
  2. Beckner
  3. Beckners
  4. Beckom
  5. Beckoms
  6. beckon
  7. beckon call
  8. beckoned
  9. beckoner
  10. beckoners
  11. beckonest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beckon (page history and authors); beckon (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); اشارے سے بلانا (Urdu) (page history and authors); beckon (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); beckon (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); beckon (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ह्वे (Sanskrit) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-beckon.wav.

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