beget
Americanverb (used with object)
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begets,
present (3rd person singular)
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begot,
past participle, past
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begat,
past (Archaic)
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begotten,
past participle (Archaic)
-
begetting
present participle
verb
-
to father
-
to cause or create
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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begetsimple
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begetssimple
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have begotperfect
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have begottenperfect
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has begotperfect
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has begottenperfect
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am begettingprogressive
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are begettingprogressive
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is begettingprogressive
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have been begettingperfect progressive
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has been begettingperfect progressive
Past
-
begatsimple
-
begotsimple
-
had begotperfect
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had begottenperfect
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was begettingprogressive
-
were begettingprogressive
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had been begettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beget
First recorded before 1000; Middle English begeten ( see be-, get); replacing Middle English biyeten, Old English begetan; cognate with Gothic bigitan, Old High German bigezzan
Explanation
To beget means to generate something, usually children, and it can be used to refer to the role of either a mother or a father. If we analyze the word beget, we get the prefix be-, which tends to intensify the meaning of the following verb, and get, which means to cause something to enter one's possession. The word is usually used to refer to having children, although it can be used to refer to anything that generates something else — for example, an inspiration can beget a brilliant idea.
Vocabulary lists containing beget
Motherlode: A Mother's Day Lexicon
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Words for Father's Day: What Fathers Do
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Words from Shakespearean Insults
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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:
“And selling could beget selling. It could be a waterfall event.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
In terms of assessing longevity, years beget more years.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
In general, strong stock markets beget IPO booms, and cycles can be long-lasting.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
That strain beget a slump, Pages batting .159 through the season’s first three weeks.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2025
I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s sympathy.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
But agent work begets human work: Onboarding customers at a faster clip means needing to respond to more customer requests, for example.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
“More often than not, strength begets strength,” he wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 15, 2026
Magalon and Santiago link lower budgets to more artistic freedom, which begets better films.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2026
In markets, strength often begets more strength, or, as technicians like to say, trends once in motion tend to remain that way more likely than they are to reverse.
From Barron's ● Jan. 13, 2026
Because technology begets more technology, the importance of an invention’s diffusion potentially exceeds the importance of the original invention.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
He’s written and produced hundreds of hours of television, and conceived the WGA’s Television Writers Handbook, which begat the WGA’s Showrunner Training Program.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 8, 2026
But that broken leg also begat the greatest comeback in NFL history and led to one of the gifts Smith gave Washington football fans — a rare Thanksgiving Day win over the Dallas Cowboys.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 22, 2023
It was family tragedy that begat a soldier.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 22, 2023
This year also begat “Billy the Kid” from “Vikings” creator Michael Hirst, which failed to hold its storytelling reins as securely as these other titles.
From Salon ● Nov. 20, 2022
But who begat you is a question with an answer only someone else can tell you.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Then a funny thing happened after I retired and began winnowing my stuff in earnest: The resulting tidiness begot more tidiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
I got into comedy because I just loved doing it and that begot so much else.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2025
Big investors begot bigger investors, and the list expanded to a roster of Silicon Valley heavyweights including Mr. Hoffman and Ms. Powell Jobs.
From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
Likewise, expectations are heavy on Dunn, 26, after a breakout 14-goal and team-high 50-assist season begot a four-year, $29.4 million extension.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 9, 2023
In the meantime Lord Mantios begot Polypheides, the prophet, and Kleitos—famous name!
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
But the rat itself was surely born here, in the Valley, begotten of that species of teenagers caroming through the malls in flocks and packs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
Its shrinking budget has begotten a shrinking member base, leading to an even smaller budget.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 2024
“The creative inspiration people got from cheese boards has begotten creative inspiration for a lot of things,” she says.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 25, 2020
The concept started in Los Angeles in 2012 and has since begotten showcases around the world, along with a monthly incarnation in Brooklyn.
From New York Times ● Oct. 18, 2018
Or, if begotten, to have fallen from the womb Straight into the grave, And to be smothered, unknowing, In the dirt of Hades.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
The slicing and dicing of available tables can mean there are only so many seats at the most sought-after establishments, begetting a sense of scarcity at the highest levels.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
For the geo-genealogy that’s begetting the fractious Palos Verdes Peninsula of today, I consulted Kevin Coffey, a lecturer in earth, planetary, and space sciences at UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2024
That trend could itself be causing a vicious cycle of fewer children begetting fewer children, said Takuya Hoshino, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
From Reuters ● Aug. 30, 2023
Some executives argue that zeal over returning to the office can build on itself, with occupants begetting more occupants.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2022
It’s a common fallacy to envision these species as arranged in a straight line of descent, with Ergaster begetting Erectus, Erectus begetting the Neanderthals, and the Neanderthals evolving into us.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
