bespeak
Americanverb (used with object)
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bespeaks,
present (3rd person singular)
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bespoke,
past, past participle (Archaic)
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bespake,
past (Archaic)
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bespoken,
past participle
-
bespeaking
present participle
-
to ask for in advance.
to bespeak the reader's patience.
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to reserve beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for.
to bespeak a seat in a theater.
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Literary. to speak to; address.
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to show; indicate.
This bespeaks a kindly heart.
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Obsolete. to foretell; forebode.
verb
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to engage, request, or ask for in advance
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to indicate or suggest
this act bespeaks kindness
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poetic to speak to; address
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archaic to foretell
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bespeaksimple
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bespeakssimple
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have bespokeperfect
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have bespokenperfect
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has bespokeperfect
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has bespokenperfect
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am bespeakingprogressive
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are bespeakingprogressive
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is bespeakingprogressive
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have been bespeakingperfect progressive
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has been bespeakingperfect progressive
Past
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bespakesimple
-
bespokesimple
-
had bespokeperfect
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had bespokenperfect
-
was bespeakingprogressive
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were bespeakingprogressive
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had been bespeakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bespeak
before 900; Middle English bespeken, Old English besprecan. See be-, speak
Explanation
To bespeak is to imply or signal something, the way your neighbor's electric car might bespeak concern for the environment. You can use this verb to mean "indicate" or "convey indirectly." Your city's excellent schools and smooth, well-cared-for streets may bespeak high taxes to people who are considering buying a house there. Your interest in foreign films and philosophy might bespeak a deep intelligence and curiosity to your teachers. And if you're really paying attention, you'll realize your friend's crankiness bespeaks her fear of starting at a new school next fall.
Vocabulary lists containing bespeak
Inquire Within: Synoynms for "Ask"
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The Portrait of a Lady
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Reveal
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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:
Whatever the validity of that charge, it doesn’t bespeak an administration indifferent to the fate of American political ideas abroad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
For some time, we’ve existed in a cynical zone in which any public tears bespeak performance.
From New York Times ● Feb. 8, 2022
Personally I am devoted to Jake, his puppyish enthusiasm, his liveliness and fleetness of non-toxic banter which all bespeak a profound purity of soul.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 9, 2019
Robyn’s radical career moves bespeak that security; as a Canadian, I’ve seen how access to public health care alone widens artists’ range of choices.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2018
I spake to Aina, saying, Aina yesterday I wishd you would bespeak an Owl for me.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The film can hardly avoid being described as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” meets “Enemy of the State,” and that such comparisons are so obvious bespeaks a certain lack of originality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Those who say they sleep well are a little bashful, as if their easy rest bespeaks a too-cosseted mind, a too-simple life.
From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2023
“It bespeaks a really, really big misunderstanding,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2023
But it bespeaks a fundamental and cruel misunderstanding of autonomy and liberty rights, and a return to something far more pernicious.
From Slate ● May 10, 2022
The fact that this surprises me only bespeaks the depths of my ignorance.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, Said, "Lady, thats but a skill; And because thou art my owne lady, 170 Thou shall haue all thy will."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
The ferryman wax'd furious when Hagan there he found; Thus he bespake the hero, and speaking darkly frown'd.
From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown
And then bespake Sir Bredbeddle, And these were the words said he: "Why, I will wrestle with yon lodly feend, God! my governor thou shalt bee."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
Then bespake Little John, To Much he 'gan say: "I dare lay my life to wed These monks have brought our pay!"
From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various
Then bespake that gentle Knight Until his meiny, "Now, put on your simple weeds That ye brought from the sea!"
From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various
Meanwhile the Grapevine, a bespoke staffing agency that caters to ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices, has seen demand for house managers nearly double since last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
"The methods for defining stickiness that have been developed are always bespoke: They work for one material, at one size scale, in one condition. It's good for studying, but you can't do much with it."
From Science Daily ● Nov. 4, 2026
Such hypothetical benefits include progress in healthcare, like the development of bespoke treatments for illnesses and improved disease detection, tailored education and legal advice and making more efficient power grids and batteries.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Christian Schneider, a documentarian with a line of bespoke leather goods for dogs, had flown in for the show from Asheville, N.C.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Somewhere in Oregon, on a rainy Sunday, the gallant Rocinante bespoke my attention.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
The Pentagon's bespoken spokesman Ken Bacon is getting to be the harbinger of a lot of bad news about the Kosovo situation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Observers wondered if the 20,000 were more acutely bespoken by General Pershing and Commander Savage than they were by often-wounded Captain Jean Piot, a contributor to L'Oeuvre.
From Time Magazine Archive
Since one cannot bespeak until one has been bespoken, until the telepathic potentiality has been sensitized by one clear reception, I had to get through to him first.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Having arrived at Vendas Novas, and bespoken supper, my new friend and myself strolled forth to view the palace.
From The Bible in Spain Vol. 1 [of 2] by George Henry Borrow
He spoke to hearts already conscious; and Rose said petulantly, “The ball will, of course, be a failure; we have bespoken failure by anticipating it.”
From Was It Right to Forgive? A Domestic Romance by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
Pratt was stout, compact and level-eyed, with a raspy drawl bespeaking his childhood on the Louisiana bayou.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025
But when you know that he thought of his look as bespeaking a kind of weightlessness, you could also surmise that he knew the price of such flight might be life itself.
From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2020
For one thing, some of it is very funny, as in a tableau positioning two porcelain figurines of colonial-era gentry before a regal, glowering jet-black face looming above them, their graceful postures bespeaking total incomprehension.
From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2018
On one of my infrequent breaks from forcing myself not to knock the thing back in three gulps, I sought to give the drink a name bespeaking its virtues and dubbed it the Gimletti Punch.
From Slate ● Dec. 5, 2013
I saw their eyes bespeaking confusion at this raillery, sorrow to hear our liberator mocked thus, and anxiety at what His Lordship’s uncertainty might mean.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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