behave
Americanverb (used without object)
-
behaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
behaved,
past participle, past
-
behaving
present participle
-
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)
-
behaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
behaved,
past participle, past
-
behaving
present participle
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
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
behavesimple
-
behavessimple
-
have behavedperfect
-
has behavedperfect
-
am behavingprogressive
-
are behavingprogressive
-
is behavingprogressive
-
have been behavingperfect progressive
-
has been behavingperfect progressive
Past
-
behavedsimple
-
had behavedperfect
-
was behavingprogressive
-
were behavingprogressive
-
had been behavingperfect progressive
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.
Vocabulary lists containing behave
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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:
“Each cycle has the potential to behave differently,” Mr. Ruffini acknowledges.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
It’s not about what we tell our children — they see how we behave.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
There are many immediate factors that will influence how Indian markets behave going forward.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
Because γ-Fe and α-Fe form under different conditions and behave differently magnetically, each could potentially record information from separate stages of lunar impact events.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 3, 2026
Consequently, in order to understand how Sapiens behave, we must describe the historical evolution of their actions.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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
Measuring how muonium behaves under gravity would provide the first test involving a second-generation particle.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Watch whether gold behaves as though that rate increase solves anything.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
Initially the dial is set at 1 g' and everything behaves as we have grown up to expect.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Those measurements could also offer clues about how the plasma behaved during the first microseconds after the universe began.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
Speaking to Spanish sports radio station COPE, he said the club behaved impeccably and pursued him properly from the first approach.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 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
“This is not how Navatek behaved or conducted business before I sold the company to Martin Kao,” Loui wrote to ProPublica.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
“I behaved no better than he did. I should have held my tongue. With Ellidyr,” he added, “that’s not easy to do.”
From "The Black Cauldron" by Lloyd Alexander
The observations provide the first direct evidence that quark-gluon plasma responds to fast-moving particles as a unified fluid, producing waves, splashes, and swirling motion instead of simply behaving as a collection of independently scattering particles.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
But these days, it is behaving less like a barometer of market health and more like a funhouse mirror.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
"Now, I think it's Mediapart that needs to be told to put on its Kevlar vest, because there will obviously be a response to the way they are behaving," she said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Bass said her review would be a top-down evaluation that also scrutinizes the roles of dispatchers, supervisors and others involved in responding to reports of people behaving erratically.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Jem dropped to his knees and began behaving like a snake healer.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
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.
