behave
Americanverb (used without object)
-
behaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
behaved,
past participle, past
-
behaving
present participle
-
to act in a particular way; conduct or comport oneself or itself.
The ship behaves well.
- Synonyms:
- perform
-
to act properly.
Did the child behave?
-
to act or react under given circumstances.
This plastic behaves strangely under extreme heat or cold.
verb (used with object)
-
behaves,
present (3rd person singular)
-
behaved,
past participle, past
-
behaving
present participle
verb
-
(intr) to act or function in a specified or usual way
-
to conduct (oneself) in a specified way
he behaved badly towards her
-
to conduct (oneself) properly or as desired
the child behaved himself all day
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
behavesimple
-
behavessimple
-
have behavedperfect
-
has behavedperfect
-
am behavingprogressive
-
are behavingprogressive
-
is behavingprogressive
-
have been behavingperfect progressive
-
has been behavingperfect progressive
Past
-
behavedsimple
-
had behavedperfect
-
was behavingprogressive
-
were behavingprogressive
-
had been behavingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of behave
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English behaven “to behave oneself”; equivalent to be- + have
Explanation
The way you act or conduct yourself is how you behave. Teachers and parents often tell kids Behave! If you follow rules and get along with others, you behave well, while if you are nasty and rude, you behave badly. Behave can suggest acting in a polite manner, as when you tell a child (or an adult) to behave in public. We usually behave differently in different situations — like when no one is watching. If you tell someone "practice what you preach" you are pointing out that the way they behave doesn't quite match up to their words.
Vocabulary lists containing behave
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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:
"We are grown men and we know how to behave," said Joe Root.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Given the average age of runners is over 40, Fabre said he expects people to behave well and be safe on the course to enjoy the beautiful landscape.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
As much as we like to think that adults will behave responsibly, you run the risk of the tenant/landlord saying, “I lost $100.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
Among them was the academy’s annual summer party, themed after 18th-century Georgian pleasure gardens — Britain’s oil-lamp-lit outdoor venues where aristocrats, the newly rich and everyday revelers gathered to see, be seen and behave badly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
Thermodynamics is the study of the way heat and energy behave.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
Weights refer to calculations or rules governing how an AI system behaves.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
Even a well-stocked farmers market rarely behaves like a supermarket organized around a recipe’s demands.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
Controlling how light behaves inside materials has already led to technologies that shape modern life.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
But this only works if the Fed actually behaves as markets expect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
“She behaves funny. Even Jaja is strange. Something is not right with them.”
From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“He’s so unhappy with how he’s behaved through his life,” Root says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
"The defendant was so preoccupied with his own enrichment that he behaved in a shocking and disgraceful way," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
A theoretical model developed by Marco Schiró, Research Scientist at Collège de France, and his team supported the experimental findings and helped explain how photons behaved inside the device.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026
Instead, reporters sat in their black-tie attire and behaved like sycophants.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2026
One of Galileo’s opponents, Lodovico delle Colombe, complained in 1610/11 that Galileo behaved like someone setting sail on the ocean, heading out past the Pillars of Hercules and crying, ‘Plus ultra!’
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Wall Street was especially tuned to July’s report because Fed officials have grown sensitive to data suggesting the economy isn’t behaving as they expected.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Birds and insects may even begin behaving as though night has arrived.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 10, 2026
Birds and other animals, bewildered by unforeseen night, start behaving strangely.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Obviously, the way that a lot of this stuff is acting, everybody is behaving like the bottom is in,” O’Rourke told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
He was behaving with the beastly selfishness of Man, taking all he could get from one quarter, and then, when that was used, going to another.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
