Word.ws English Dictionary

behaved

Syllables: be·haved/bɪˈheɪvd/US/bɪˈheɪvd/

behaved is the simple past and past participle of behave.

Meaning of behave

Verb

behave (third-person singular simple present behaves, present participle behaving, simple past and past participle behaved)

  1. (reflexive) To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.
    • You need to behave yourself, young lady.
  2. (intransitive) To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.
    • He behaves like a child whenever she's around.
    Synonyms:
    deport, tread, acquit
  3. (obsolete, transitive) 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...
  4. (intransitive) To act in a polite or proper way.
    • His mother threatened to spank him if he didn't behave.

Adjective

behaved

  1. (in-compounds) Exhibiting the specified kind of behaviour.
    • a rudely-behaved child

Words formed from behaved

Phrases with behaved

Questions about behaved

What does behaved mean?
Behaved means exhibiting the specified kind of behaviour.
What is behaved the simple past and past participle of?
Behaved is the simple past and past participle of behave.
What part of speech is behaved?
Behaved is an adjective.
How do you pronounce behaved?
Behaved is pronounced /bɪˈheɪvd/ (UK).

Words near behaved in the dictionary

  1. behats
  2. behatted
  3. behatting
  4. behave
  5. behave oneself
  6. behaved
  7. behavedst
  8. behaver
  9. behavers
  10. behaves
  11. behavest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: behaved (page history and authors); behave (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-behaved.wav.

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