behave
UK/bᵻˈheɪv//bɪˈheɪv/
behave verb: to conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
Verb
behave (third-person singular simple present behaves, present participle behaving, simple past and past participle behaved)
- To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
- You need to behave yourself, young lady.
- And the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Judaism[…]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Maccabees 2:21
- To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.
- He behaves like a child whenever she's around.
- How did the students behave while I was gone?
- To conduct, manage, regulate (something).
- He did behave his anger ere 'twas spent.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- But who his limbs with labours, and his mind / Behaues with cares, cannot so easie mis.1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book 2, canto 3, verse 40
- To act in a polite or proper way.
- His mother threatened to spank him if he didn't behave.
- One time when Willie was more set on clowning than on learning about Jesus, Miss Helen ordered, "Willie Mack, you stand up against the wall until you learn to behave."2009, Roger L. Van Ommeren, From Rebellion to Submission, page 48
behave meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
behave in Hindi
- to act in a specific manner
- आचरण करना ācraṇ karnā, बर्ताव करना bartāv karnā, व्यवहार करना vyavhār karnā, पेश आना peś ānā
behave in Tamil
- ஒழுகு, நட, நடந்துகொள், செலாற்று, நடத்து, நல்லமுறையில் நடந்துகொள்
behave in Marathi
- to act in a specific manner
- वागणे vāgṇe
- to act in a polite or proper way
- नीट वागणे nīṭ vāgṇe
behave in Urdu
- to act in a specific manner
- پیش آنا peś ānā, برتاؤ کرنا bartāv karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- behave in Bengali
- আচরণ করা acôrôn kôra
- behave in Telugu
- నడచుకొను naḍacukonu, ప్రవర్తించు pravartiñcu, నడచు naḍacu
- behave in Malayalam
- പെരുമാറുക perumāṟuka
- behave in Kannada
- ನಡೆ naḍe
- behave in Gujarati
- વર્તવું vartvũ
- behave in Sanskrit
- चरति cárati, तिष्ठति tíṣṭhati, वर्तयति vartáyati
- behave in Arabic
- تَصَرَّفَ taṣarrafa, تَصَرَّفَ بِشَكْل taṣarrafa bišakl, مُؤَدَّب muʔaddab
- behave in Malay
- bersikap
- behave in Persian
- رفتار کردن raftâr kardan, مؤدب بودن mo'addab budan
- behave in Thai
- ประพฤติ bprà-prʉ́t, ทำตัว tam-dtuua, ทำตัวดี, สำรวมกิริยา
- behave in Vietnamese
- cư xử
- behave in Myanmar
- ပြုမူ pru.mu
Examples of behave in a sentence
- I'm fed up with your constant antics in class. Please behave yourself!
- The headmaster wondered what an appropriate measure would be to make the pupil behave better.
- Despite extensive simulation in the design phase, the aircraft failed to behave as expected.
Synonyms of behave
Forms of behave
| third-person singular present | behaves |
|---|---|
| present participle | behaving |
| past participle | behaved |
| past | behaved |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | behavest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | behavedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | behaveth |
Origin of behave
From Middle English behaven, bihabben (“to restrain, behave”), from Old English behabban (“to surround, embrace, hold, contain, hold back, withhold, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- + have. Cognate with Middle Low German behebben, behāven (“to receive, acquire, reach, keep”), Low German behebben (“to act, behave”), German behaben (“to behave”).
Words formed from behave
Words that rhyme with behave
Questions about behave
- What does behave mean?
- Behave means to conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
- What is behave in Hindi?
- Behave in Hindi is आचरण करना (ācraṇ karnā), बर्ताव करना (bartāv karnā), व्यवहार करना (vyavhār karnā). See Behave meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is behave?
- Behave is a verb.
- How do you pronounce behave?
- Behave is pronounced /bᵻˈheɪv/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of behave?
- The past tense of behave is behaved.
Words near behave in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: behave (page history and authors); behave (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); আচরণ করা (Bengali) (page history and authors); నడచు (Telugu) (page history and authors); ನಡೆ (Kannada) (page history and authors); વર્તવું (Gujarati) (page history and authors); चरति (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-behave.ogg.
Cite this entry: “behave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/behave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.