besot
Americanverb (used with object)
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to intoxicate or stupefy with drink.
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to make stupid or foolish.
The stories had besotted her mind with fear and superstition.
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to infatuate; obsess.
Youth and beauty have a tendency to besot middle-aged men; charm and tenderness does it for women of all ages.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of besot
Explanation
To besot is to make someone dazed or foolish. If television tends to besot you, it would be smart not to watch a lot of TV right before a big test at school. The verb besot is much less common than the related adjective besotted, which means so infatuated with someone that it leaves you dizzy and a little bit silly. Both words have their roots in the Old English sott, "stupid person or fool." A parent may fill a birthday piñata with toys instead of candy if they believe that sugar would just besot all the party guests.
Vocabulary lists containing besot
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:
Ah cruel fates, why do you then besot Poor Corin's soul with love, when love is fled?
From Elizabethan Sonnet Cycles: Idea, Fidesa and Chloris by Martha Foote Crow
Nightmares Ride in their wake, the spirits to besot.
From All About Coffee by William H. (William Harrison) Ukers
It will steal in upon you, grow upon you, beset and besot you, till you like no other place in the world so well.”
From Aurora the Magnificent by Gertrude Hall Brownell
And don't you forget You will ne'er be forgot, You never should fret As at times you have frot, I would chase all the cares that beset, if they ever besot.
From The Book of Humorous Verse by Carolyn Wells
Oh, he had no right thus to besot himself with adoration!
From Chivalry by James Branch Cabell
“I was in awe of his intellect, dazzled by his wit, amazed by his fearlessness and spirit of adventure, besotted by his loving heart, and smitten by his beautiful blue eyes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
She also admitted to being " besotted" by Shakespeare's sonnets: "I just love them."
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Mr. Crowe, retaining a trace of his Hermann Göring from “Nuremberg,” is transparently deceitful to everyone but his besotted student, who agrees to be one of Murray’s guinea pigs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The trio were often seen together but when a besotted Harry introduced his new girlfriend, Meghan Markle, to William in 2016, the reaction was frosty, he recounted in "Spare".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Caesar is beside himself, the Capitol audience is hysterical, shots of crowds around Panem show a country besotted with happiness.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
That delivers 0-60 mph acceleration pace in the 7s—adequate, though hardly besotting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 20, 2015
It is a besotting kind of taste, likely to turn into a disease.
From Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
How to get over, how to escape from, the besotting particularity of fiction.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) by Andrew Lang
Losses and contumely, that had been incurred by the besotting prejudices of European commanders were beginning to be forgotten in the pride of success.
From The Red Rover by James Fenimore Cooper
No; I have never repented fleeing from the stifling poison-breath of sin that was hot and thick around me, and threatened to steal over my senses like besotting wine.
From Romola by George Eliot
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
