Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use behest in a sentence

11 example sentences · noun, verb

Behest means a command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest. Example: “Sophie felt she should sit on too though she knew it to be an irrational fantasy of hers that these little services were held at his behest.”

Examples of behest by meaning

nounA command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's...

  • Sophie felt she should sit on too though she knew it to be an irrational fantasy of hers that these little services were held at his behest.2005, Patrick Gale, Friendly Fire, London; New York: Fourth Estate, page 150
  • Fleetwood Vibe was here at the behest of his father, Wall Street eminence Scarsdale Vibe, who was effectively bankrolling the Expedition.2007, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day
  • the House of Representatives will try to water down even this feeble effort at the behest of the unions whose members enjoy some of the most lavish policies.2009 October 15, “What a waste”, in The Economist

More sentences with behest

  • Hence came it that the ports of Rome were opened (At our behests) to give you guestening.2013, Barnabe Barnes, The Devil's Charter, page 36. From the entry guesten
  • Now they’ve caved at the behest of the censorious Left.2019 November 19, Josh Milton, quoting Ben Shapiro, “Ben Shapiro and his alt-right rabble are mourning the loss of homophobic chicken”, in…. From the entry censorious
  • I still regret uploading all my CDs at the behest of my husband, who is far techier than I am.2019 April 24, Pamela Paul, “Sliding Backward on Tech? There Are Benefits”, in The New York Times. From the entry techy
  • At his behest, NCNB started opening new lines of business in areas previously considered off-limits for major uptown banks.2018 June 15, Howard E. Covington Jr., Marion A. Ellis, The Story of Nationsbank: Changing the Face of American Banking, UNC Press Books…. From the entry uptown
  • “Here are those trappers, lady, well trained and stout of heart, In woodcraft wise, in gamecraft wise, their lives at my behest.”2013, Caroline A. F. Rhys Davids, Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jataka, page 171. From the entry gamecraft
  • Three years ago Elaine Noble came out to San Francisco and campaigned against Harvey Milk, at the behest of Foster and David Goodstein.1979 August 11, John Kyper, “Gay Shame!”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 4, page 5. From the entry with friends like these, who needs enemies
  • Li lives, broke its silence on Friday, saying in a statement that she had checked into a hospital for psychiatric treatment at the behest of her family.2021 December 23, Chris Buckley, “Fury in China After an Outspoken Teacher Disappears”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from…. From the entry Xiangxi
  • Bans on fluoride in tap water, passed by legislators in Utah and Florida at Robert F Kennedy Jr’s behest, mark a new hostility to the very idea of evidence-based government.2025 October 2, William Davies, “A critique of pure stupidity: understanding Trump 2.0”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 01…. From the entry evidence-based

Meaning of behest

  1. noun A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest.
  2. noun A vow; a promise.
  3. verb To promise; vow.

Full definition of behest

Questions about behest in a sentence

How do you use behest in a sentence?
Behest is used as a noun and verb. For example: “Sophie felt she should sit on too though she knew it to be an irrational fantasy of hers that these little services were held at his behest.”
What is a short sentence with behest?
“Now they’ve caved at the behest of the censorious Left.”
What does behest mean?
Behest means a command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: behest (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use behest in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/behest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.