behoove
/bɪˈhuːv/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.09 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To befit, be appropriate or necessary to somebody. Alternative form of behove.
American usage; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "It ill behooves my mother to complain."
- "Straighter he stood, and had achieved some praise / In other exercise, much more behooving / A soldier's taste than merely dirt removing."
- "I think it ill behooves the Government of Canada, let alone all the people like us in Canada, to pretend that there are not these distinctions in how each of us approaches questions of security."
- "“Behooves”? said Danny. / “Becomes necessary, Mr. Hupfer,” said Mrs. Baker, “as in ‘It behooves us to raise our hands before we ask a question’. Now, can anyone tell me what the adjectival form would be?”"
- "[…] Thor and Iron Man pushed the [Avengers] Mansion back roughly 35 feet from Fifth Avenue in order to give the Mansion a front yard (and the privacy that comes along with it). Let's face it—it wouldn't behoove Earth's Mightiest Heroes to have to put those ugly wrought-iron bars on their ground-floor windows in order to prevent petty theft."
- "It behooved that the Sonne of God suld descend unto us, and tak himselfe a bodie of our bodie, flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bones, and so become the Mediator betwixt God and man, giving power to so many as beleeve in him, to be the sonnes of God; […]"
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɪˈhuːv/
- British English: /bɪˈhuːv/
Usage
- American usage
- Transitive verb
- Intransitive verb