bespeak
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
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bespokesimple
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had bespokeperfect
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had bespokenperfect
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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
I requested Octav. to bespeak an Apparatus from a Glazier but he would not & defied me.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The film can hardly avoid being described as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” meets “Enemy of the State,” and that such comparisons are so obvious bespeaks a certain lack of originality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
In 1900, the average life expectancy of a 1-year-old in the U.S. was about 56 years; that bespeaks a morbid population of infants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2025
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
The fact that this surprises me only bespeaks the depths of my ignorance.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Then bespake good Gilbert, And thus he 'gan say, "Master," he said, "your tackle is lost, Stand forth and take your pay!"
From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various
And then bespake him gentle Gawaine, Said, "Lady, thats but a skill; And because thou art my owne lady, 170 Thou shall haue all thy will."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
Thus, full attired In all her ornaments, she issued forth, And beck'ning Venus from the other pow'rs Of Heav'n apart, the Goddess thus bespake: 'Daughter, beloved!
From The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli, Volume I (of 3) by Knowles, John
Then bespake good Robin, In place where as he stood, "To-morrow, I must to Kirkesley Craftily to be let blood!"
From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various
The ferryman wax'd furious when Hagan there he found; Thus he bespake the hero, and speaking darkly frown'd.
From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown
Part of a 1,700-year-old copy of Homer's poem, kept at Manchester's John Rylands Library, was taken to New York in a bespoke case for the viewing.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
He added bespoke Poliform fixtures and finishes as well as indoor LED lighting.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
“We’re not the best answer for every single person, especially someone who wants to build a little more bespoke and custom.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
Charvet has been making bespoke shirts and suits from its home on Place Vendome in Paris since 1838, with past clients including Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy and Chanel founder Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
He introduced Bobby to his tailor in the Little Hungary section of Manhattan so that the teenager could have some bespoke suits made.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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
"And by the way, I have bespoken a clear day for that especial occasion."
From The Coward A Novel of Society and the Field in 1863 by Morford, Henry
You will still breakfast, therefore, in the parlour; and, at your own time, you will ask for a chaise, which I have bespoken to carry you back to Lewes.
From The Wanderer (Volume 1 of 5) or, Female Difficulties by Burney, Fanny
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
I saw their eyes bespeaking confusion at this raillery, sorrow to hear our liberator mocked thus, and anxiety at what His Lordship’s uncertainty might mean.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
