in behalf of
Idioms-
Also, on behalf of.
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For someone else, as someone's agent or representative. For example, In behalf of the board, I want to thank you for your help , or Joan was speaking on behalf of the entire staff . [c. 1300]
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For someone's benefit or interest, as in He was collecting the dues in my behalf . [Late 1500s] Some authorities insist that in behalf of be used only to mean “for someone's benefit” and on behalf of only to mean “as someone's agent.” In practice, however, the terms are so often used interchangeably that this distinction no longer has a basis.
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.
Under questioning from prosecutors Thursday morning, Weisselberg appeared to provide them ammunition for the argument that he was acting in behalf of the company.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 17, 2022
Mr. Richards’s efforts in behalf of the apostrophe did not go without recognition.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2021
“And I gladly join in ascribing praise to that great daily for courageous fight upon this subject in behalf of the common people.”
From Fox News • Oct. 16, 2020
“The sons of Liberty withstood the Lords in Parliament in behalf of true Liberty,” the Regulators complained in 1766, so “let not Officers under them carry on unjust Oppression in our own Province.”
From Textbooks • Jan. 18, 2018
In the same book, I met with one of Sheridan’s mighty speeches on and in behalf of Catholic emancipation.
From "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass
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.
