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Synonyms

gift

1 American  
[gift] / gɪft /

noun

  1. something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.

    Synonyms:
    dowry, inheritance, legacy, bequest, subsidy, allowance, premium, tip, gratuity, alms, largesse, boon, bounty, endowment, benefaction, offering, contribution, donation

  2. the act of giving.

  3. something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.

    Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.

  4. a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent.

    the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
    Synonyms:
    knack, turn, genius, forte, bent, capability, aptitude, faculty

verb (used with object)

  1. to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.

  2. to present (someone) with a gift.

    just the thing to gift the newlyweds.
GIFT 2 American  
[gift] / gɪft /

noun

  1. gamete intrafallopian transfer: a laparoscopic process in which eggs are retrieved from an ovary by aspiration and inserted, along with sperm, into the fallopian tube of another woman.

gift 1 British  
/ ɡɪft /

noun

  1. something given; a present

  2. a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent

  3. the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in ( someone's ) gift )

  4. the act or process of giving

  5. (usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to present (something) as a gift to (a person)

  2. (often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift

  3. rare to endow with; bestow

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
GIFT 2 British  
/ ɡɪft /

acronym

  1. gamete intrafallopian transfer: a technique, similar to in vitro fertilization, that enables some women who are unable to conceive to bear children. Egg cells are removed from the woman's ovary, mixed with sperm, and introduced into one of her Fallopian tubes

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
gift Idioms  

    More idioms and phrases containing gift

Related Words

See present 2.

Other Word Forms

  • giftless adjective

Etymology

Origin of gift

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old Norse gift; cognate with Old English gift ( Middle English yift ) “marriage gift”; akin to give

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.

Denver International Airport has asked the public for gas and grocery gift cards in $10 and $20 denominations so they can be distributed widely.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

A gift: from my lucky stars and Father Time.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 2026

That brings me to my question: How could this relative gift money to our daughter without giving her immediate and unsupervised access to it?

From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026

What’s more, allowing some ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz may be less of a gift and more of a business deal.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

Even Dutch stations carried mostly war news, and that we could hear just as well on the small portable radio we kept now in the dining room, a gift from Pickwick the Christmas before.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

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.