behoove

[bih-hoov](chiefly in impersonal use)

verb (used with object), be·hooved, be·hoov·ing.

to be necessary or proper for, as for moral or ethical considerations; be incumbent on: It behooves the court to weigh evidence impartially.

to be worthwhile to, as for personal profit or advantage: It would behoove you to be nicer to those who could help you.

verb (used without object), be·hooved, be·hoov·ing.

Archaic. to be needful, proper, or due: Perseverance is a quality that behooves in a scholar.

Origin of behoove

before 900; Middle English behoven, Old English behōfian to need (behōf behoof + -ian infinitive suffix)

Synonyms for behoove

2. benefit, advantage, serve, better, advance; suit, befit, beseem.

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

Related Words for behooved

befit, suit, beseem

Examples from the Web for behooved

Historical Examples of behooved

It behooved him now to reach Grant as soon as he could with his news.
The Rock of Chickamauga
Joseph A. Altsheler
Indeed it behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils.
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
Washington Irving
Nights when they were abroad, it behooved men to stay under cover.
The Book of Hallowe'en
Ruth Edna Kelley
It behooved the living therefore to learn how to deal with ghosts.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner
The hornets were stirring then, and it behooved him to keep well away from their nest.
The Doomsman
Van Tassel Sutphen

Word Origin and History for behooved

behoove

Old English behofian "to have need of, have use for," verbal form of the ancient compound word represented by behoof.

Historically, it rimes with move, prove, but being now mainly a literary word, it is generally made to rime with rove, grove, by those who know it only in books. [OED]