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
Under dark dusk and through the rainy streets that bespeak the Old Smoke’s subpar drainage system, we ride to the Saatchi Gallery.
From New York Times ● Dec. 27, 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
As his eyes met mine I was suddenly moved to bespeak him, to try to reach him with the mindspeech I had never used since I landed on Winter, and should not use, yet.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The sudden explosion of online sports betting bespeaks a nation of young men looking for ways to pocket cash for no work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
But his many TV roles are marked by a sense of implacable stillness that bespeaks the maturity that comes from a long career.
From New York Times ● Dec. 30, 2022
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
Their apartment, its walls lined with books and covered with movie posters, bespeaks a life happily devoted to artistic and intellectual pursuits.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2022
The fact that this surprises me only bespeaks the depths of my ignorance.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Then bespake him Sir Marramile, And these were the words said hee: "Riding of this steed, brother Bredbeddle, 240 The mastery belongs to me."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
With that bespake the seven brethren, Making most piteous mone, "You may go kiss your jolly brown bride,55 And let our sister alone."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume II (of 8) by Various
Then bespake Cornwall King againe, These were the words said he.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
And then bespake Sir Bredbeddle, 265 To the feend these words said hee: Says, "I coniure thee, thou Burlow-beanie, The powder-box thou feitch me."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
Then bespake him Little John, All unto Robin Hood, "Master, if ye would dine betime, It would do you much good!"
From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various
Much of AI infrastructure financing today is bespoke, involving a relatively small number of companies and lenders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Sleek branding, user-friendly websites, a bespoke logo crafted by a human and not a machine… it’s all indicative of competence nowadays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
That's thanks to oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Ulster Hospital; the only service of its kind in Northern Ireland, providing bespoke prostheses for people affected by birth defects, traumatic injuries and cancer surgery.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Professor Michael Huffman, a primatologist based in Japan, currently at Nagasaki University, said this particular account was "tantalising", but more evidence would be needed to prove that elephants provided bespoke medical treatment for their calves.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Before the Scientific Revolution facts were few and far between: they were handmade, bespoke rather than mass produced, they were poorly distributed, they were often unreliable.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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
For the crape hat–that was the accident–must indeed come, because it was bespoken.
From Hesperus or Forty-Five Dog-Post-Days Vol. II A Biography by Jean Paul
She would have become again only another piece of jewelry in a shop-window—beautiful, but not for him; beautiful, but already bespoken.
From What Will People Say? A novel by Rupert Hughes
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
Therem the younger son; Arek the elder, that brother whose voice he had heard in mine bespeaking him; both dead now.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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