bequeath
Americanverb (used with object)
-
bequeaths,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bequeathed,
past participle, past
-
bequeathing
present participle
verb
-
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
-
bequeathsimple
-
bequeathssimple
-
have bequeathedperfect
-
has bequeathedperfect
-
am bequeathingprogressive
-
are bequeathingprogressive
-
is bequeathingprogressive
-
have been bequeathingperfect progressive
-
has been bequeathingperfect progressive
Past
-
bequeathedsimple
-
had bequeathedperfect
-
was bequeathingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Grade 11, List 3
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Why do voters and MPs bequeath and remove their support with seemingly such casual ease?
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
Related: My second husband will leave me $540,000 if I bequeath him my $130,000 net worth.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 8, 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
The Latin dictionary was the first of thirteen thousand volumes which he would eventually buy and, at his death, bequeath to the Boston Public Library.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
The passage of great TV characters bequeaths to their survivors, including the audience, a rummage of questions that end up shaping their journey.
From Salon ● Apr. 21, 2025
Because Bill saw a kindred spirit in Joel as someone who protects those they love, he bequeaths everything he owns to Joel so he can keep Tess safe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2023
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
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
Decades of American colonial rule bequeathed the nation with a passion for basketball.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Slot was bequeathed quality, but he put his own stamp on it to make Liverpool title winners.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Frieda bequeathed it to the University of New Mexico, and the D.H.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
He points out in a note that profit growth of 1% relative to the average of the prior two quarters was lower than the 1.7% benefit bequeathed by the period’s 1.5 extra days.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 12, 2025
From the very beginning, the two men wrote in 2004, the city was partly in ruins—intentionally so, because the fallen walls bequeathed on Tiwanaku the authority of the past.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
Longtime Dodgers fans will cringe at the bequeathing of so much power to one player, but this is how it works in Tinseltown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
He stepped down in 2017, bequeathing power to Mr Lourenço who was then defence minister.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2022
They reach out to people, hosting dinner parties, bequeathing little bits of themselves to their friends.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
