bequeathed

[ bih-kweetht, -kweethd ]

adjective

1. (of personal property or money) disposed of by a person’s final will:

   The college has received a bequeathed gift of $1 million from one of its alumni.

2. handed down or passed on:

   The more conservative council members see traditional values as the bequeathed virtues of a preferred past.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of bequeath.

Other Words From

• un·be·queathed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bequeathed¹

First recorded in 1615–25; bequeath ( def ) + -ed ²( def ) for the adjective senses; bequeath ( def ) + -ed ¹( def ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

The tiara previously belonged to the Queen Mother who bequeathed it to Princess Margaret.

From The Daily Beast

But they also bequeathed to us a founding racism that we have found it almost impossible to jettison.

From The Daily Beast

The Britain that she bequeathed to the world is a very different place.

From The Daily Beast

In 1463, a gentleman of Bury St. Edmunds bequeathed to a friend “my silvir forke for grene gyngour” (candied ginger).

From The Daily Beast

His fascism bequeathed an example that was disastrously emulated across Europe - and that led in turn to another terrible war.

From The Daily Beast

The thing bequeathed must be described with sufficient clearness to identify it, nothing more is required.

From Project Gutenberg

He soon afterward gave fifty thousand a year for this work, and a million bequeathed for the cause at his death.

From Project Gutenberg

To whomsoever of my ancestors bequeathed me my power of detachment deep salaams!

From Project Gutenberg

As he was carried along he made his will, in which he bequeathed his detestation of popery to his friends and brethren.

From Project Gutenberg

But what was he to do, what means could he employ with a child that a worshiped wife had bequeathed to him in dying?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• genetic
• inborn
• transmitted