Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To be necessary or proper for: It behooves you at least to try.
- v. To be necessary or proper.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To be fit or meet for, with respect to necessity, duty, or convenience; be necessary for; become: now used only in the third person singular with it as subject.
- To relate to the advantage of; concern the well-being of: formerly used with a regular nominative.
- To be necessary, suitable, or fit.
- Also spelled behove.
- n. An obsolete form (properly dative) of behoof.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To be necessary for; to be fit for; to be meet for, with respect to necessity, duty, or convenience; -- mostly used impersonally.
- v. To be necessary, fit, or suitable; to befit; to belong as due.
- n. obsolete Advantage; behoof.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be appropriate or necessary
Etymologies
- Middle English behoven, from Old English behōfian "to need", from Old English behōf+ian. Cognate with Swedish: behöva. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English behoven, from Old English behōfian. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In the meantime, it would behoove all of us "behoove" means something that causes you to grow hooves to remember the true spirit of "Bike Month," which is, of course, all about health, respect, safety, fanny-packs, and gigantic "Fred" rides.”
The Indignity of Bike Month: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Cleats, Love and Understanding?
“Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner told the Associated Press it would " behoove " Mr. Lee to sign with the Yankees.”
“I humbly bow to the power of "behoove", unfortunatly since I mostly speak swedish daily it would seem slightly crazy to slip in "behoove" anywhere at all.”
“Never heard the word "behoove" before, have I've been missing out?”
“Liu posted his letter to Brown on his campaign (for City Comptroller) website: "It's outrageous and insulting for you to suggest it would 'behoove' us to adopt another name, to give up our birthright and a part of our own identity, in order to exercise our right to vote" and suggest she resign if she doesn't apologize.”
“In a letter to Brown, Liu said Thursday: "It's outrageous and insulting for you to suggest it would 'behoove' us to adopt another name, to give up our birthright and a part of our own identity, in order to exercise our right to vote.”
“` ` It's outrageous and insulting for you to suggest it would 'behoove' us to adopt another name, to give up our birthright and a part of our own identity, in order to exercise our right to vote, '' he said.”
“What is the difference between 'behoove' and 'behove'?”
“With all the information available, pro and con, in many types of media to inform ones self about health care, it would behoove commentators on this site to post truthful comments rather than emotional rants.”
'None of this is easy,' Obama aide says of health care reform
“It will behoove republicans not to make this an issue when they clearly are out of touch with the african-american and latin american communities.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘behoove’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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Mirrored Vowels
Rules:
• The word must have an even number of vowels.
• There must be four or more vowels; thus, at minimum, an A-A-A-A or A-B-B-A pattern.
• The vowels must appear in a mir...feminine, solicitor, caruncular, repackager, semiprimes, fetishises, decomposer, demonlover, recomposer, sepultures, lipotropic, colesterol and 385 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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New words
new words or spelling issues
voluble, Metagrobolize, salubrious, calumny, fugacity, withdrawal, bourse, hypertrophy, leitmotif, argot, improvident, damask and 238 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
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Naresh_Gre
The path meanders through the vineyards
meander, labyrinth, Sinuous, gyrate, caron, awry, credo, banter, juxtaposition, argot, inexorable, foibles and 223 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Vocab #12
Mrs. Wilson's Class 2012
euphemism, mundane, incongruous, condolence, stipulate, douse, runt, behoove, verbose, garbled
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List of words to expand my vocabulary
does what it says on the tin, and is severely needed.
indolent, insolent, idly, divulge, tattle, benign, roguish, daintily, idle, dowdy, sordid, wanton and 242 more...
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List for Test Day
heresy, reversion, predilection, pedagogy, disparate, virtuous, refurbish, efficaciously, provenance, heckler, amorphous, epitome and 236 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for behoove.

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