gift
noun
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
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gift
1 American
[gift]
/ gɪft /
noun
-
gifts
plural
-
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
-
the act of giving.
-
something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.
-
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent.
the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
verb (used with object)
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gifts,
present (3rd person singular)
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gifted,
past participle, past
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gifting
present participle
-
to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.
-
to present (someone) with a gift.
just the thing to gift the newlyweds.
GIFT
2
American
[gift]
/ gɪft /
noun
gift
1
British
/ ɡɪft /
noun
-
something given; a present
-
a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent
-
the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in ( someone's ) gift )
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the act or process of giving
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(usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit
verb
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to present (something) as a gift to (a person)
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(often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift
-
rare to endow with; bestow
GIFT
2
British
/ ɡɪft /
acronym
gift
Idioms
Synonym Usage
See present 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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giftsimple
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giftssimple
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have giftedperfect
-
has giftedperfect
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am giftingprogressive
-
are giftingprogressive
-
is giftingprogressive
-
have been giftingperfect progressive
-
has been giftingperfect progressive
Past
-
giftedsimple
-
had giftedperfect
-
was giftingprogressive
-
were giftingprogressive
-
had been giftingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gift
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old Norse gift; cognate with Old English gift ( Middle English yift ) “marriage gift”; akin to give
Explanation
A gift is an item that's given without any expectation of payment — it's a present. A gift may be the present you receive on your birthday or it may be a natural gift or talent you possess — like your gift for reading lips. People give gifts to mark special occasions, like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. and some holidays. Sometimes tourists buy gifts while on vacation and bring them home to their friends and family. Another kind of gift is a special ability: "She has such a gift for learning languages." The root of gift is probably the Old Norse gipt or gift, which means both "gift" and "good luck."
Vocabulary lists containing gift
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:
It’s the gift that keeps on giving: They stoke the flames, and the flames reward them back.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
The gift shop overflowed with people buying beaded bracelets and amulets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Sky News says it did not interact with his daughter, and was trying to ask Farage about a £5m gift he received from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne before he entered Parliament in July 2024.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Allowing someone space and time is a gift, and it’s probably the most selfless kind of gift.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
“Why do you keep going to these snake oil salesmen? It’s been years and nothing you’ve done has brought your gift back,” Grandma snaps.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
PGA GIFT: All the past PGA champions at Quail Hollow might have stars in their eyes.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2017
In GIFT, by contrast, the embryo drifts quietly into the uterus, much as it would naturally.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Los Angeles couple went through a five-year effort that included hormone treatment, artificial insemination, an ectopic pregnancy, sperm washing and finally GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
Asch was trying to find a simpler way to do IVF, one that would not require the skills of an embryologist, when he hit upon the procedure he called gamete intra-Fallopian transfer, or GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
"OUR GIFT" has been prepared as a token of affection for our Sunday school Pupils, and it is hoped that it may serve a similar purpose in the hands of other teachers.
From Our Gift by Boston Teachers of the School Street Universalist Sunday School
Financial education is one of the greatest gifts a loved one can pass on to a child, because it sets them up to make informed decisions that could otherwise cost them thousands of dollars.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
She was given gifts from children's charities including a new car, a cruise in Tenerife, and also free X-Factor tickets.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
For much of history, presidents adhered to them, including by seeking approval from Congress before accepting gifts from foreign states and foreign leaders.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
‘Yes, his contributions to entertainment will be long remembered and enjoyed, but his gifts to children will likely have no end,’ writes an L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
The girls helped weed out Mamá’s vegetable garden and picked fat zucchini, ripened tomatoes, and spicy serrano peppers, which they bundled together in delicate netting to give away as gifts to Mamá’s comadres.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
The bride-to-be’s posts about the weekend of tennis, swimming, gifted clothes and meals resulted in more e-commerce sales and social-media followers for Yakira Bella, Gerszberg added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
He added that she was "tremendously gifted" and passed her passion for music on to her family and the wider community through the founding of the Armagh Pipers Club with her husband, Brian.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The line that set off the frenzy, in its entirety, is: “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
“He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
Voldemort was sent to persuade people to part with their treasures for sale by the partners, and he was, by all accounts, unusually gifted at doing this.”
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
Katie: I’ve seen brands sprinkle those old marketer favorites—surprise and delight—across Reddit, direct-messaging fans for gifting and giveaways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Once their spring blooms are complete, Aggrey meticulously collects the seed pods from the clarkias, gilias and phacelias, processes the seeds and packages them for gifting before the subsequent spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
But he said he was passionate about his opposition to this "gifting culture", adding: "We've been doing this for 15 years and we've never gifted anything to anyone really."
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
My wife and I might invest the proceeds, start gifting to family or buy a vacation home.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
I don’t think Ma could have spent five minutes in this place without running to her car and gifting it some good, high-quality bookends.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
