bequeath
Americanverb (used with object)
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bequeaths,
present (3rd person singular)
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bequeathed,
past participle, past
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bequeathing
present participle
verb
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law to dispose of (property, esp personal property) by will Compare devise
-
to hand down; pass on, as to following generations
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bequeathsimple
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bequeathssimple
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have bequeathedperfect
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has bequeathedperfect
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am bequeathingprogressive
-
are bequeathingprogressive
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is bequeathingprogressive
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have been bequeathingperfect progressive
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has been bequeathingperfect progressive
Past
-
bequeathedsimple
-
had bequeathedperfect
-
was bequeathingprogressive
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were bequeathingprogressive
-
had been bequeathingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bequeath
First recorded before 1000; Middle English bequethen, Old English becwethan ( be- be- + cwethan “to say” ( see quoth), cognate with Old High German quedan, Gothic qithan )
Explanation
To bequeath is to leave your possessions to another person after you die. A man might love his classic cars but would be happy to bequeath them to his grandchildren when he writes out his last will and testament. Bequeath often is used about making plans to give away property and possessions after a person's death, like the pearl necklace that your great-grandmother bequeathed to you or a house that your uncle bequeathed to a his favorite charity. Sometimes bequeath is used for things handed down without death, as when living parents and grandparents pass, or bequeath, a legacy of stories or family traits and talents as an inheritance.
Vocabulary lists containing bequeath
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Grade 11, List 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:
“People who are 60 can live to 85. People are highly likely to want to bequeath their portfolio to children — and those heirs might have 30 to 40 years until retirement.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
If you bequeath a Roth, heirs’ withdrawals are tax-free.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
And yet you can’t bequeath to your children a crust of bread.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
Brandi Schmitt is director of the anatomical donation programme at the University of California, a popular destination for people wishing to bequeath their bodies.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2025
I had now produced an heir, though I had litde as yet to bequeath to him.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Liz Truss bequeaths her successor a party in chaos, spiralling prices, rising interest rates and squeezed government budgets.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2022
He admits that “my wish to learn Sanskrit was an attempt to deal intellectually with a country whose reality perturbed me,” but the language bequeaths him a vast literary inheritance.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 30, 2019
Gov’t Mule bequeaths the songs and dreams of Haynes to a rabid audience of highly devoted followers almost without rest.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2017
It bequeaths to those left behind fundamental questions about the value of existence, the fragility of our social bonds and the hidden life of even those closest to us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2014
The latter informs the party that she bequeaths untold wealth to the young pair and an awful doom to Don Pedro, if he doesn’t make them happy.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
Boris arrived at the museum in 1932 amongst a large collection of taxidermy bequeathed by a local game hunter.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
And since houses can be bequeathed tax-free, having a valuable property can help homeowners who want to leave something to the next generation.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
Yet feats of demography are only part of what “Revolver” bequeathed.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
Gehry bequeathed blueprints and models, sketches and concepts, for his large and devoted team of younger architects and next-generation visionaries equipped to fabricate our way out of angst.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026
“For centuries, members of my family have served as noble knights, guarding the treasure our ancestors bequeathed to us.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Museums have for a long time relied on wealthy individuals bequeathing, loaning or donating artefacts to build their science and art collections, explains Dr Smithwick, who recovers and sells fossils professionally.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Hassan got further scope to exercise his instincts after Hafez al-Assad died in 2000, bequeathing power to his second son, Bashar, a British-educated eye surgeon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
He played the role of mediator, bequeathing legitimacy to a group which seemingly needed his normalcy.
From Salon ● Sep. 22, 2024
She suggested having one plan in place for a caretaker if the bonsai owner falls ill and another for bequeathing the tree.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 11, 2024
Robbie, my great-aunt, my rigid taskmaster of a piano teacher, passed away in June, bequeathing her house on Euclid to my parents, allowing them to become home owners for the first time.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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.
