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In Return of the Jedi, the villain Darth Vader speaks with an old-timey flair when he asks his boss, the Emperor, for instructions: “What is thy bidding, my master?” If the film’s screenwriters wanted him to sound even more old-timey, however, they could have chosen to have him ask “What is thy behest?” As a word for a command or order, behest predates bidding in English by a couple centuries, dating all the way back—long, long ago, though still in this galaxy—to the 1100s. Its Old English ancestor, the noun behǣs, referred to a promise, a meaning that continued on in Middle English especially in the phrase “the land of behest” but is now obsolete. The “command” sense of behest is still in good use, typically referring to an authoritative order, whether from an emperor or some other high-ranking figure. Behest is now also used with a less forceful meaning; it can refer to an urgent prompting, as in “an anniversary showing of classic films at the behest of the franchise’s fans.”
Examples of behest in a Sentence
Kayti Burt, Time, 5 Dec. 2025
At Petro's behest, Kovalik recently traveled to Colombia to meet with Carranza Medina's family, and has now filed this complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which investigates complaints in South and North America.
—Andy Sheehan, CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025
The child had been cropped out of the photo at the behest of Walshe’s defense team.
—Colleen Cronin, Boston Herald, 4 Dec. 2025
Opened in 1982 at the behest of UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and retired from service in 2023, the building’s sweeping mosaic ceiling provided a resonant backdrop for the fair’s eclectic programming.
—Ritu Upadhyay, Footwear News, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for behest
Cite this Entry
“Behest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behest. Accessed 16 Dec. 2025.
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behest
noun
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