something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
the act of giving.
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.
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent.
the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.
to present (someone) with a gift.
just the thing to gift the newlyweds.
something given; a present
a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent
the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in ( someone's ) gift )
the act or process of giving
(usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit
to present (something) as a gift to (a person)
(often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift
rare to endow with; bestow
See present 2.
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old Norse gift; cognate with Old English gift ( Middle English yift ) “marriage gift”; akin to give
A gift is an item that's given without any expectation of payment — it's a present. A gift may be the present you receive on your birthday or it may be a natural gift or talent you possess — like your gift for reading lips. People give gifts to mark special occasions, like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. and some holidays. Sometimes tourists buy gifts while on vacation and bring them home to their friends and family. Another kind of gift is a special ability: "She has such a gift for learning languages." The root of gift is probably the Old Norse gipt or gift, which means both "gift" and "good luck."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A 50th birthday gift from her fellow Spice Girls, a picture of a dog and a mobile phone.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Hiddleston notes that “one great gift of Pompeii is that the Romans didn’t have paper, so the walls, the columns, the houses, the public buildings are covered in writing: deeds, business contracts, advertisements, gossip, doodles.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
That rule is a gift on the way up.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
The gift, I’m delighted to hear, was a hit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
How if I think too hard about that it will become complicated, and how right now I want the gift of uncomplication.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
PGA GIFT: All the past PGA champions at Quail Hollow might have stars in their eyes.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2017
Asch was trying to find a simpler way to do IVF, one that would not require the skills of an embryologist, when he hit upon the procedure he called gamete intra-Fallopian transfer, or GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Los Angeles couple went through a five-year effort that included hormone treatment, artificial insemination, an ectopic pregnancy, sperm washing and finally GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
In GIFT, by contrast, the embryo drifts quietly into the uterus, much as it would naturally.
From Time Magazine Archive
PARENTS' CHRISTMAS-BOX and NEW-YEAR's GIFT; containing the various Predictions of the Prophets respecting Jesus Christ. 1s.
From Jemima Placid or, The Advantage of Good-Nature by Kilner, Mary Ann (n?e Maze)
Of Gen Z homebuyers, 13% used family gifts in order to cover the down payment.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
The OEC would advise the justices on recusal issues, gifts and financial disclosures, and unauthorized disclosure of official court documents, like the Dobbs leak.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2026
Most schools have rules over the value of gifts teacher can accept, limited to £30 or £50 typically, and discourage cash gifts altogether.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Emails between them included banter where she called him “Uncle Jeffrey,” discussions about his legal matters and women accusing him, and recorded her receiving luxury gifts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
“Sometimes the best gifts are the ones you weren’t expecting.”
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
Those reporters had worked on stories in the days prior about security concerns involving a jet gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government that was being used as Air Force One.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
He was hugely gifted, honest, decent, hard-working and emotional.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
India’s policies have also contributed to talent flight toward countries viewed as more likely to give the gifted and ambitious a chance to maximize their potential.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
The switch raised questions about the gifted jet that the U.S. spent $400 million to retrofit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
Then he’d grab the Bull’s shirt collar in his skinny little hand, the one with the fingers of a gifted pianist, and shove him against the nearest tree.
From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Warren Buffett did not donate to the Gates Foundation this year, ending a two-decade run of gifting Berkshire Hathaway shares to the philanthropy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
My wife and I might invest the proceeds, start gifting to family or buy a vacation home.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
Towering over all of them, arms stretched out as if gifting all these heroes to the world, is Chávez.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026
While individuals who are at least age 70 ½ can gift using QCDs, the gifting tools are typically used starting at age 73 to manage the tax consequences of mandatory withdrawals from IRAs.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
And it was Duryodhana, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers, that came to his rescue by gifting him a kingdom of his own.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
