Synonyms

behave

American

[bih-hayv] / bɪˈheɪv /

verb (used without object)

to act in a particular way; conduct or comport oneself or itself.

The ship behaves well.

Synonyms:

perform
to act properly.

Did the child behave?
to act or react under given circumstances.

This plastic behaves strangely under extreme heat or cold.

verb (used with object)

to conduct or comport (oneself ) in a proper manner.

Sit quietly and behave yourself.

behave British

/ bɪˈheɪv /

verb

(intr) to act or function in a specified or usual way
to conduct (oneself) in a specified way

he behaved badly towards her
to conduct (oneself) properly or as desired

the child behaved himself all day

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

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Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of behave

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English behaven “to behave oneself”; equivalent to be- + have

Explanation

The way you act or conduct yourself is how you behave. Teachers and parents often tell kids Behave! If you follow rules and get along with others, you behave well, while if you are nasty and rude, you behave badly. Behave can suggest acting in a polite manner, as when you tell a child (or an adult) to behave in public. We usually behave differently in different situations — like when no one is watching. If you tell someone "practice what you preach" you are pointing out that the way they behave doesn't quite match up to their words.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

behave behaves behaved behaving

The ability to adjust that motion through temperature and magnetic fields also provides an additional way to influence how superconductors behave.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Small artificial intelligence models may be only months away from being able to behave like a computer worm, copying themselves from one internet-connected gadget to the next without human help, AI giant Anthropic said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

I wonder whether we’ve also begun expecting humans to behave more like machines.

From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026

Six months ago he launched Embroidery, which uses AI “supervisors” to monitor AI agents and to detect and stop them if they begin to behave in misaligned ways.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The small group of my friends seemed to have the same goals: to behave appropriately and make good grades.

From "March Forward, Girl" by Melba Pattillo Beals

Unlike traditional software, AI behaves more like a human worker: It takes action, makes decisions, sometimes even makes mistakes—all on the clock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

Plus, it’s inherently funny when a body engineered to function with extreme precision behaves ineptly.

From Slate ● Sep. 27, 2026

And if an AI system itself behaves in ways its developers did not expect, a rulebook won’t make it behave.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026

In this version of the story, A.I. stops being a tool and acts as a being that behaves in accordance with its own worldview.

From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026

“That old sourpuss. You’d think the man had a very unhappy childhood with the way he behaves sometimes.”

From "Clean Getaway" by Nic Stone

If Earth behaved like a completely solid blue marble, its center of mass would line up with its geometric center.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

Back in the castle, Ranganathan pointed out: "If somebody else had behaved like Richard, we wouldn't even be having a debate about this, you would just go 'you've got to vote for him'."

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Hours later, following the Eagles’ 27-7 loss to the Bears, Sirianni expressed regret for how he behaved.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2026

But in a short period of time, they adapted “because very quickly they saw how they behaved and they saw there was no incidents.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

As far as Ralph could see, teachers behaved like ordinary people except that, unlike parents, they said, “Oh, dear, school will soon be starting.”

From "Ralph S. Mouse" by Beverly Cleary

Highlighting worries about the technology, Smith pointed to a recent Anthropic report suggesting small AI models may be only months away from behaving like computer worms, copying themselves from one internet-connected device to the next.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

"I would never have thought that I would end up behaving in the way that I had, and I can't imagine being that way now."

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Instead, they can become extremely slow while behaving collectively.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 2, 2026

Means complained in other meetings that he believed some White House officials were behaving like it was their job to help food industry lobbyists work against Kennedy’s agenda, one person said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Halfway down the long second-floor hallway, it came to him that he might be behaving a little strangely.

From "The School for Whatnots" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023