Word.ws English Dictionary

behaves

behaves is the third-person singular simple present indicative 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.

Questions about behaves

What is behaves the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Behaves is the third-person singular simple present indicative of behave.

Words near behaves in the dictionary

  1. behave oneself
  2. behaved
  3. behavedst
  4. behaver
  5. behavers
  6. behaves
  7. behavest
  8. behaveth
  9. behavier
  10. behaviers
  11. behavin'

Source and license

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