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
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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
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bequeathedsimple
-
had bequeathedperfect
-
was bequeathingprogressive
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were bequeathingprogressive
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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:
If you bequeath a Roth, heirs’ withdrawals are tax-free.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
But a time-tested made-in-Italy pedigree and solid-metal build make the Marcato the sort of tool you bequeath to your grandkids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
If your friend has a valuable piece of jewelry she may wish to bequeath those to a sister or aunt or niece.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 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
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 director of “The Fly” and “Videodrome” isn’t in the film long, but he bequeaths prestige upon these splat-hijinks that they don’t quite deserve.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
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
And what love bequeaths to us before we’re born.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Most of the work was given by these artists to the poet, whose husband, David Kermani, then bequeathed them to the Morgan between 2019 and 2023.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Yet feats of demography are only part of what “Revolver” bequeathed.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026
The divergent societies the two ships bequeathed would foster what Mr. Reynolds maintains were in effect two competing nationalities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Each box owner has about 10 seats that can be transferred, rented out or bequeathed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
But the Europeans carried a disease, and they bequeathed it to their jailers.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
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
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.
