bequeath
Americanverb (used with object)
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
-
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
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had bequeathedperfect
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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:
Why do voters and MPs bequeath and remove their support with seemingly such casual ease?
From BBC ● May 16, 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
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
He went on to bequeath little bits of money and jewelry to each of them, never clarifying which one he considered his Koh-i-noor.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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
He appointed more than 140 cardinals from non-European countries and bequeaths his successor a Church that is far more global in outlook than the one he inherited.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025
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
She bequeaths her stuffed toys to Gloria’s fourteen-year- old daughter.
From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario
Monkhouse bequeathed his joke book collection to his writing partner in his will.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2026
But many who served in the front lines maintained their revolutionary zeal, becoming more determined to sustain the regime Khomeini bequeathed to them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
Mr. Rein implores us to override the divisive reflexes evolution has bequeathed us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
It takes time for newly-elected presidents to assemble their cabinet, cue up a legislative program, address the problems — or coast on the economic health — bequeathed them by their predecessors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
What’s more, unlike the paintings bequeathed to posterity by Constable or Rembrandt, his music has not ossified, frozen for ever in time.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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
Rewrite my will with a clause about my bequeathing the drawing to them.
From "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg
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.
