beget
verb
, bē-\
, bē- \
also begat\ bi-ˈgat
, bē- \;
begotten\ bi-ˈgä-tᵊn
, bē- \
or begot;
begetting
Definition of beget
Keep scrolling for more
Synonyms for beget
Synonyms
breed, bring, bring about, bring on, catalyze, cause, create, do, draw on, effect, effectuate, engender, generate, induce, invoke, make, occasion, produce, prompt, result (in), spawn, translate (into), work, yield
Visit the Thesaurus for More
Examples of beget in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The scammers have begotten a society of scamming fanatics. — Steff Yotka, Vogue, "Why Is Scammer Style So Bad?," 22 Mar. 2019 An ’80s jewelry revival, for instance, has begot big chunky pearl necklaces unsuitable for ribbon cuttings. — Nancy Macdonell, WSJ, "How Classic Pearls Became Improbably Hip," 11 Dec. 2018 For example: In 2011, a crisis of copyright law essentially begot the success of MusicBed, which was, at the time, still an entrepreneurial gambit by the owner of a creative agency. — Jacqueline Detwiler, Popular Mechanics, "Why Does Every Tech Ad Use the Same Song? Because of This Man.," 26 Feb. 2019 Higher wages often beget higher growth, but the connection isn’t reliable. — Jon Sindreu, WSJ, "Why Central Bankers Are Moving Beyond Inflation Targets," 21 Dec. 2018 The episode depicts every major Apple marker as an unexpected move quickly turned success: retail stores beget iPods, which lead to online music stores, and that eventually surfaces the idea of an iPhone. — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, "How Steve Jobs and Bill Gates defined a decade of tech—according to CNN’s The 2000s," 30 July 2018 For one, television, where ratings beget advertising revenue, is not a forgiving medium for dissatisfaction, several media analysts and specialists said. — Eric Levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Local News Is Turning Into Trump TV, Even Though Viewers Don’t Want It," 28 Mar. 2018 And the Four Seasons, the immaculate cafeteria that begat the so-retro-as-to-seem-quaint Power Lunch, was his alone. — Mark Lamster, Curbed, "Arbiter of taste, enfant terrible: The best and worst of Philip Johnson," 6 Nov. 2018 In such a scenario, death would beget death, as patients carrying the virus would stream into hospitals and infect others who did not yet have the disease. — Ron Klain, Vox, "A pandemic killing tens of millions of people is a real possibility — and we are not prepared for it," 15 Oct. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'beget.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Learn More about beget
From the Editors at Merriam-Webster
11 Words from the Bible
11 Words from the Bible
Good words from the Good Book
Dictionary Entries near beget
Statistics for beget
Last Updated
21 Apr 2019
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for beget
The first known use of beget was in the 13th century
Keep scrolling for more
More Definitions for beget
beget
verb
English Language Learners Definition of beget
See the full definition for beget in the English Language Learners Dictionary
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on beget
What made you want to look up beget? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
Words from Greek and Latin Quiz
-
- Which of the following months comes from a Latin word for “ten”?
Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
-
Words from Greek and Latin Quiz
Finally! A use for those SAT prep classes.
Take the quiz -
Name That Thing: Animal Edition
How many animals can you identify?
Take the quiz -
How Strong Is Your Vocabulary?
Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!
Take the quiz -
Add Diction
Build a chain of words by adding one letter at a time.
Play the game
Share beget
Resources for beget