beget

verb

be·get | \ bi-ˈget,

bē-\

begot\ bi-ˈgät ,

bē- \ also begat\ bi-ˈgat ,

bē- \; begotten\ bi-ˈgä-tᵊn ,

bē- \ or begot; begetting

Definition of beget

transitive verb

1 : to procreate as the father : sire He died without begetting an heir.

2 : to produce especially as an effect or outgrowth Violence only begets more violence.

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Examples of beget in a Sentence

He died without begetting an heir. one change in the natural environment will beget others

Recent Examples on the Web

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. 2018 Moreover, the next generation of rats emulated their own mothers’ behavior: High-licking moms begat high-licking children. — Judith Newman, New York Times, "Adversity Needn’t Thwart or Define You. Here’s How to Cope.," 6 July 2018 Even if 2 Tone’s songs about intolerance begetting violence are sadly more relevant than ever, Wakeling would like to think of himself as an optimist. — Kenneth Partridge, Billboard, "The English Beat Talk First New Album In 36 Years & Feeling Like 'Ska-stradamus'," 23 May 2018 When the era of the smartphone hit, Tencent proved adept at competing against itself: A contest among several internal teams begat WeChat—and the group responsible for QQ did not win. — Adam Lashinsky, Fortune, "Alibaba v. Tencent: The Battle for Supremacy in China," 21 June 2018

These 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.