- past participle of beget.
begotten
Americanverb
verb
Other Word Forms
Explanation
Something is begotten when it's been generated by procreation — in other words, it's been fathered. A somewhat old fashioned adjective, begotten is the past participle of the verb beget, which means to father or produce as offspring. You might recognize this word from John 3:16, one of the most popular and most often quoted bible verses: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Vocabulary lists containing begotten
Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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Words for Carolers
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Oedipus at Colonus
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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.
How great if this type of four-quadrant filmmaking didn’t have to cosplay as a begotten relic — if it could take courage from these dinosaurs and thrive in our modern times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Investment has begotten investment and driven philanthropic interest, with Gray’s organization poised to help build a $54 million, 219-unit affordable-housing complex.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
“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
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., sent a detailed list of questions to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh about his financial history this week, and those questions have now begotten further questions.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2018
Sometimes he took a servant and his bed and he slept again in the old earthen house and in the old bed where he had begotten children and where O-lan had died.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
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.
