behoove
Syllables: be·hoove/bɪˈhuːv/US/bɪˈhuːv/
behoove verb: to befit, be appropriate or necessary to somebody. Alternative form of behove.
Verb
behoove (third-person singular simple present behooves, present participle behooving, simple past behooved, past participle behooved or (rare) behooven)
- To befit, be appropriate or necessary to somebody. Alternative form of behove.
- It ill behooves my mother to complain.
- Straighter he stood, and had achieved some praise / In other exercise, much more behooving / A soldier's taste than merely dirt removing.1874, Bret Harte, “Cadet Grey”, in The Poetical Works of Bret Harte, complete edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company; The Riverside Press, Cambridge [Mass.], →OCLC, canto II, stanza...
- To be fitting.
- It behooved that the Sonne of God suld descend unto us, and tak himselfe a bodie of our bodie, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and so become the Mediator betwixt God and man, giving power to so many as beleeve in him, to be the sonnes of God; […]1560, [John Knox et al.], “Confessio Fidei Scoticana I. The Scotch Confession of Faith. A.D. 1560.”, in The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes. … In Three Volumes, 4th revised...
- Now, while discoursing of sperm, it behooves to speak of other things akin to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works.1851, Herman Melville, “XCIV A Squeeze of the Hand”, in Moby-Dick^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moby-Dick_(1851)_US_edition/Chapter_94)
behoove meaning in Urdu and Kannada
behoove in Urdu
- ضروری ہونا, مناسب ہونا
behoove in Kannada
- ಯೋಗ್ಯವಾಗು, ಅರ್ಹವಾಗು, ತಕ್ಕುದಾಗು
Examples of behoove in a sentence
- I think it ill behooves the Government of Canada, let alone all the people like us in Canada, to pretend that there are not these distinctions in how each of us approaches questions of security.2002 May 9, Douglas Roche, “Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade: Evidence [37th Parliament, 1st session, meeting...
- “Behooves”? said Danny. / “Becomes necessary, Mr.2007, Gary D. Schmidt, “May”, in The Wednesday Wars, New York, N.Y.: Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 208:
- Let's face it—it wouldn't behoove Earth's Mightiest Heroes to have to put those ugly wrought-iron bars on their ground-floor windows in order to prevent petty theft.2015, Dan Casey, “Avengers Mansion”, in 100 Things Avengers Fans Should Know & Do before They Die, Chicago, Ill.: Triumph Books, →ISBN...
Forms of behoove
| third-person singular present | behooves |
|---|---|
| present participle | behooving |
| past | behooved |
| past participle | behooved |
| past participle (rare) | behooven |
Origin of behoove
See behove.
Words formed from behoove
Words that rhyme with behoove
Questions about behoove
- What does behoove mean?
- Behoove means to befit, be appropriate or necessary to somebody. Alternative form of behove.
- What is behoove in Urdu?
- Behoove in Urdu is ضروری ہونا, مناسب ہونا. See Behoove meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use behoove in a sentence?
- I think it ill behooves the Government of Canada, let alone all the people like us in Canada, to pretend that there are not these distinctions in how each of us approaches questions of security.
- What part of speech is behoove?
- Behoove is a verb.
- How do you pronounce behoove?
- Behoove is pronounced /bɪˈhuːv/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of behoove?
- The past tense of behoove is behooved.
Words near behoove in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: behoove (page history and authors); behoove (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); behoove (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-behoove.wav.
Cite this entry: “behoove.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/behoove. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.