Word.ws English Dictionary

behests

behests is the plural of behest.

Meaning of behest

Noun

behest (plural behests)

  1. A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest.
    • Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth,
      Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
  2. (obsolete) A vow; a promise.
    • The time is come that I should send it her, if I keep the behest that I have made.c. 1440, Markaryte Paston, letter to John Paston

See all 3 meanings of behest

Questions about behests

What is behests the plural of?
Behests is the plural of behest.

Words near behests in the dictionary

  1. behentrimonium chloride
  2. behest
  3. behest loan
  4. behested
  5. behesting
  6. behests
  7. behew
  8. behews
  9. behierite
  10. behight
  11. behighted

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: behests (page history and authors); behest (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: “behests.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/behests. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.