beget

[bih-get]

verb (used with object), be·got or (Archaic) be·gat; be·got·ten or be·got; be·get·ting.

(especially of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring).

to cause; produce as an effect: a belief that power begets power.

Nearby words

Origin of beget

before 1000; Middle English begeten (see be-, get); replacing Middle English biyeten, Old English begetan; cognate with Gothic bigitan, Old High German bigezzan

SYNONYMS FOR beget

1. spawn, sire, breed, father. 2. occasion, engender, effect, generate.

Related formsbe·get·ter, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for begets

And just as buying begets more buying, selling often begets more selling.
Japan’s Stock Market Suffers as Investors Worry About Success of Abenomics|William O’Connor|June 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It also begets a plastic surgery chic, where people trade faces like they do cars.
My Day With Paris|Tom Tapp|November 4, 2008|DAILY BEAST
The simultaneous passage through great emotions welds souls, and begets the strongest of all forms of love.
The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford|Mark Rutherford
It is the Irreverent Deed that begets after it more of its kind.
Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals|Thomas Davidson

They knew the dangers and temptations of wealth, the selfishness which it begets, as well as its destruction of brotherly love.
Wilford Woodruff|Matthias F. Cowley
But creative imagination, in a psychological and scientific sense, begets action.
Power of Mental Imagery|Warren Hilton
It is the kind of a government that begets loyalty in its subjects.
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)|B. H. Roberts

British Dictionary definitions for begets

beget

verb -gets, -getting, -got, -gat, -gotten or -got (tr)

to father

to cause or create

Derived Formsbegetter, noun

Word Origin for beget

Old English begietan; related to Old Saxon bigetan, Old High German pigezzan, Gothic bigitan to find; see be-, get

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

Word Origin and History for begets

beget

Old English begietan "to get by effort, find, acquire, attain, seize" (class V strong verb, past tense begeat, past participle begeaton), from be- + get (v.). Sense of "to procreate" is from c.1200. Related to Old High German pigezzan, Gothic bigitan "to get, obtain." Related: Begot; begotten.