bethink
Americanverb (used with object)
-
bethinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bethought,
past participle, past
-
bethinking
present participle
-
to think; consider (used reflexively).
He bethought himself a moment.
-
to remind (oneself ).
to bethink oneself of family obligations.
-
to remember; recall (used reflexively).
She lives in the past now, bethinking herself of happier days.
-
to determine; resolve.
Under the circumstances I could not otherwise bethink me.
-
Archaic. to bear in mind; remember.
verb (used without object)
-
bethinks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
bethought,
past participle, past
-
bethinking
present participle
verb
-
to cause (oneself) to consider or meditate
-
to remind (oneself)
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bethinksimple
-
bethinkssimple
-
have bethoughtperfect
-
has bethoughtperfect
-
am bethinkingprogressive
-
are bethinkingprogressive
-
is bethinkingprogressive
-
have been bethinkingperfect progressive
-
has been bethinkingperfect progressive
Past
-
bethoughtsimple
-
had bethoughtperfect
-
was bethinkingprogressive
-
were bethinkingprogressive
-
had been bethinkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of bethink
before 1000; Middle English bethenken, Old English bethencan. See be-, think 1
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:
But the head of the French department did not bethink himself in time to procure a bust of Ronsard to be duly "crowned," during the ceremony.
From Time Magazine Archive
When a New Englander needs an image for swarming bees he may not bethink him of showered stars, yet sparks from a Fourth of July pinwheel are quite as effective and wholly permissible.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yet many readers will bethink themselves of many Cynthias and wonder if it is too late, or just timely, to pass the book along.
From Time Magazine Archive
And now I bethink me, kind lady, that it ill becomes me to have spoken of nothing but my own poor affairs on my first having the honor of meeting with you.
From Judith Shakespeare Her love affairs and other adventures by William Black
Further, you brothers and sisters of the north ought to bethink yourselves and keep in mind how we regard them.
From The Brothers' War by John Calvin Reed
Then the doctor bethinks himself of ultraviolet rays.
From Time Magazine Archive
When the sculptor has mastered the possible he bethinks him of the impossible.
From Ancient Art and Ritual by Jane Ellen Harrison
But then he bethinks himself that that is not quite all.
From Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) by Alexander Maclaren
Cyril is dining with some bachelor friends near Truston: so Lady Chetwoode, who is always thoughtful, bethinks her there is no one to bring Lilian down to dinner except Guy.
From Airy Fairy Lilian by Margaret Wolfe Hamilton (AKA Duchess)
In this finale the despairing Lionel bethinks him of his ring.
From The Standard Operas (12th edition) Their Plots, Their Music, and Their Composers by George P. (George Putnam) Upton
In his Discourse on Inequality, he lamented "the first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying, 'This is mine,' and found people simple enough to believe him."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2017
Surfeited by whole years of public adulation, Signer Mussolini bethought himself suddenly last week of perhaps the most unnoticed and retiring woman in all Italy.
From Time Magazine Archive
The line was that Britain, at least, had bethought herself, after hearing and acceding to Joseph Stalin's blunt demand for land action on the Invasion Coast.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Houston, Tex., authorities bethought themselves that criminals are criminals, and abolished the "State Honor Farm," from which 49 "honor prisoners" have already escaped this year.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Now. All night, I lay and I bethought myself—how to leave so I won’t be forgot? And behold.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
At any rate, as though bethinking himself of something half forgotten, he changed his mind of a sudden.
From Dr. Grenfell's Parish The Deep Sea Fisherman by Norman Duncan
Sewell professed his delight at such a prospect; and the Judge then, suddenly bethinking himself of the hour,—it was already nigh eleven,—arose.
From Sir Brook Fossbrooke, Volume I. by Charles James Lever
The intercessor would not be baffled, and, bethinking himself to appeal by the tenderness of birth and of death to the king, wrote four lines of verse which he left on the table.
From French Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson
Then, bethinking himself of the serious business which he had in hand, he picked it up and trotted off to a dry spot which he knew of, just on the fringe of the island.
From Hoof and Claw by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts
My vespers were done, and I was bethinking me of retiring to rest, when I heard the plaintive voice of Ethel beseeching me to let her come within my tent.
From The Last of the Vikings by John Bowling
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
