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Definition of behest
1 : an authoritative order : command The meeting was called at the senator's behest.
2 : an urgent prompting At the behest of her friends, she read the poem aloud.
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Examples of behest in a Sentence
I only made the change at the author's behest.
Recent Examples of behest from the Web
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Weiss was signed at the behest of then-coach Mike Babcock.
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The technical changes that had stalled the bill in the House came as Republicans dismissed Democratic complaints that the delay was at the behest of the Trump administration and intended to weaken the legislation.
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This was the case in both Cincinnati and Oakland, however the tales of police reform at the behest of federal courts are starkly at odds in those cities.
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At the behest of her friend, Cox has taken a break from fillers, but stops short of claiming she’s done with them forever.
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There’s one other difference between Bears Ears and other national monuments: It was made at the behest of nearby Native American nations.
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The Daily Express reports that the royals are headed to Poland and Germany at the behest of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, likely as a show of good faith and unity as negotiations for Brexit get underway.
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Yet the rescue of Popular is reminiscent of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s decision in March 2008 to absorb Bear Stearns & Co., the venerable Wall Street investment bank crippled by subprime mortgage bets, at the behest of the Federal Reserve.
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The other four subpoenas were issued at the behest of the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and were said to be duplicative of subpoenas already issued by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a parallel probe.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'behest'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Behest first appeared in 12th century Old English as behλst, which is formed from the prefix be- and the Old English verb hātan ("to command" or "to promise"). While the word was originally used only in the sense of "promise," it acquired the additional sense of "command" among speakers of Middle English. Among contemporary English speakers, behest is no longer used in the sense of "promise" but rather denotes an authoritative or urgent request or command. Old English hātan also gave English the now-archaic words hest (meaning "command") and hight ("being called or named").
Origin and Etymology of behest
Middle English, promise, command, from Old English behǣs promise, from behātan to promise, from be- + hātan to command, promise — more at hight
Learn More about behest
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See words that rhyme with behest Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for behest Spanish Central: Translation of behest Nglish: Translation of behest for Spanish speakers
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