bequeathed; bequeathing; bequeaths
1
: to give or leave by will (see will entry 2 sense 1)
—used especially of personal property
a ring bequeathed to her by her grandmother
2
: to hand down : transmit
lessons bequeathed to future generations
Examples of bequeath in a Sentence
He bequeathed his paintings to the museum.
Lessons of the past are bequeathed to future generations.
Recent Examples on the Web
There are also wooden pews made for the school’s Bond Chapel and 72,000 glass slides from the art-history department, all of which were bequeathed to Gates over the years.
—
Elizabeth Cantrell, Travel + Leisure, 26 Sep. 2025
Following her death in 2022, the tiara was bequeathed to Queen Camilla.
—Julia Teti, Footwear News, 18 Sep. 2025
Rewriting society’s decision-making Unlike biased pundits who hem, haw and hedge their bets, Web3 prediction markets cut through noise, bequeathing a signal that feeds into pricing mechanisms themselves.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2025
After Matsura’s death, a substantial collection of his photographs, bequeathed to his friend Judge William Compton Brown, was donated as part of Brown’s estate to the Washington State University archives.
—Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bequeath
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Elizabeth Cantrell, Travel + Leisure, 26 Sep. 2025
Following her death in 2022, the tiara was bequeathed to Queen Camilla.
—Julia Teti, Footwear News, 18 Sep. 2025
Rewriting society’s decision-making Unlike biased pundits who hem, haw and hedge their bets, Web3 prediction markets cut through noise, bequeathing a signal that feeds into pricing mechanisms themselves.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2025
After Matsura’s death, a substantial collection of his photographs, bequeathed to his friend Judge William Compton Brown, was donated as part of Brown’s estate to the Washington State University archives.
—Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bequeath
Cite this Entry
“Bequeath.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bequeath. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
1
: to give or leave property by a will
2
: hand down sense 1
traditions bequeathed by our ancestors
Legal Definition
bequeath
transitive verb
be·queath
bi-ˈkwēth, -ˈkwēt͟h 
Etymology
Old English becwethan to speak to, address, leave by will, from be- to, about + cwethan to say
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