behold
Americanverb (used with object)
-
beholds,
present (3rd person singular)
-
beheld,
past participle, past
-
beholding
present participle
interjection
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beholdsimple
-
beholdssimple
-
have beheldperfect
-
has beheldperfect
-
am beholdingprogressive
-
are beholdingprogressive
-
is beholdingprogressive
-
have been beholdingperfect progressive
-
has been beholdingperfect progressive
Past
-
beheldsimple
-
had beheldperfect
-
was beholdingprogressive
-
were beholdingprogressive
-
had been beholdingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of behold
First recorded before 900; Middle English beholden, Old English behaldan “to keep”; see be-, hold 1
Explanation
To behold is to see. You could behold the changing sky as the sun sets. It’s old-fashioned and fancy, so magicians like to use it, as in “Behold! I shall pull a rabbit out of my hat!” Have you ever heard "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? That can help you remember that to behold is to see something and to hold it in your attention. To behold is to look intensely — it’s much more than a glance. A good example of beholding is when you take the time to check out something special like that beautiful sunset, or a bunny hopping out of a hat and handing out candy.
Vocabulary lists containing behold
"Frankenstein"
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Awkward
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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:
The Ming dynasty floating-crab cup is a marvel to behold.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
As we reach peak jellyfish season in Scotland, should we see them as a sight to behold or a reason to run?
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Both indoors and out, Porter proved that there was beauty where one was inclined to behold it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The Hutchinson Himalayas are a site to behold — a mile-long museum of municipal neglect.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
“But—but have you not? Only a short time ago there were four fresh-poured ingots on this bench, and behold, where are they now?”
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
“For the listener, who listens in the snow, / And, nothing himself, beholds / Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
In the Phaedrus, Plato describes the soul sprouting and growing wings when it beholds something beautiful.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 15, 2022
Into the space once taken up by monthly pains and forbidden longings arrive mystical visions in which she beholds the Virgin Mary, first as virgin and then as mother.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2021
Theologically speaking, pride turns itself inward; it beholds the self and deems it sufficient.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 4, 2018
The individual is thus a monad which is inwardly aware of its actuality—a genius which beholds itself.
From Hegel's Philosophy of Mind by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
At least, it did until very recently, when we fully beheld the wretched manifestations of Meta’s desperate A.I. push.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2025
But ordinary Russians beheld the Lockshins’ bright, hopeful faces on the news with disbelief and derision.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
She hiked uphill from her riverside worksite and beheld a vista of sheer mountain slopes unbroken by rivers or streams.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2024
When we first beheld our most important Wolf-Rayet target, a star designated WR 104, on a computer monitor, it was a shimmering spiral that resembled a weirdly distorted Christmas bauble.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 18, 2023
Then Judith took her into her own room and she beheld a bed with a head-board, a table, and a reading lamp.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
There is a particular thrill in beholding a portrait as old and as lifelike as Isidora’s, just over a foot in height and 6 inches wide.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
“The Times posed the question, ‘Will Swift ever voluntarily step away from the spotlight?’ as if beholding a woman in full flow and power invariably summoned the fantasy of her involuntary removal from the scene.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
In the context of the story, the narrator is describing his descent into insanity after beholding the most grotesque, ungodly beast in existence.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2025
These products have been verified compliant with modern standards for beholding eclipses.
From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2024
Defying the storm that threatened, the clouds that curtained the sun now pass, and we three survivors of a long-ago tragedy stand together in silence, beholding one another in the sun’s light.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
