beseech
/bɪˈsiːt͡ʃ/
beseech verb: to beg or implore something of (a person).
Verb
beseech (third-person singular simple present beseeches, present participle beseeching, simple past and past participle beseeched or besought)
- To beg or implore something of (a person).
- Moost noble crysten Quene I byseche yow as ye haue ben euer my specyal good lady and I at al tymes your true poure knyghte vnto my power and as I neuer fayled yow in ryghte nor in wrong sythen the fyrst day kynge Arthur made me knyghte that ye wylle praye for my soule yf that I here be...[1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iii, leaf 401r
- [W]e beſche thee, leaue vs not comfortles, but ſende to vs thine holy ghoſt to comfort vs, and exalte vs vnto thy ſame place, whither our ſauiour Chriſte is gone before: […]1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “The Introites, Collectes, Epistles, and Gospels, to be Used at the Celebracion of the Lordes Supper & Holye Communion, throughe the Yeare: With...
- To beg or request for (something).
- [T]he tickets had all been given out, begged, besought long ago.1990, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, transl., The Brothers Karamazov, San Francisco, North Point Press, →ISBN, page 657
Noun
beseech (plural beseeches)
- A request.
- Good madam, hear the suit that Edith urges, With such submiss beseeches; [...]1617, pseudo-Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, George Chapman, Ben Jonson, Philip Massinger, Rollo, Duke of Normandy, or the Bloody Brother, act IV, scene III
beseech meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
beseech in Tamil
- கெஞ்சிக் கேள், மன்றாடு, வேண்டிக் கேள்
beseech in Urdu
- ہاتھ پاؤں جوڑنا, التجا کرنا, ناک رگڑنا
beseech in Bengali
- মিনতি করা, অনুনয় করা
beseech in Malayalam
- to beg
- യാചിക്കുക yācikkuka
More languagesFewer languages
- beseech in Kannada
- ಕೋರು, ಕೇಳು, ಬೇಡಿಕೊ, ಅಂಗಲಾಚು
- beseech in Arabic
- تَوَسَّلَ tawassala, اِلْتَمَسَ iltamasa
- beseech in Thai
- ขอร้อง kɔ̌ɔ-rɔ́ɔng
Forms of beseech
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | beseeches |
| present participle | beseeching |
| past participle | beseeched |
| past | beseeched |
| past participle | besought |
| past | besought |
| alternative form | beseek |
| Noun | |
| plural | beseeches |
Origin of beseech
From Middle English besechen, bisechen, prefixed form of Old English sēċan (“to seek or inquire about”); compare the doublet beseek, from the same dialect that gave seek. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besäike (“to visit”), Dutch bezoeken (“to visit, attend, see”), German besuchen (“to visit, attend, see”), Swedish besöka (“to visit, go to see”). By surface analysis, be- + seech.
Words formed from beseech
Words that rhyme with beseech
Questions about beseech
- What does beseech mean?
- Beseech means to beg or implore something of (a person).
- What is beseech in Tamil?
- Beseech in Tamil is கெஞ்சிக் கேள், மன்றாடு, வேண்டிக் கேள். See Beseech meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is beseech?
- Beseech can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce beseech?
- Beseech is pronounced /bɪˈsiːt͡ʃ/.
- What is the past tense of beseech?
- The past tense of beseech is beseeched.
Words near beseech in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: beseech (page history and authors); beseech (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); beseech (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); beseech (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); beseech (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-beseech.wav.
Cite this entry: “beseech.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/beseech. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.