Did you know?
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
Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026
Mayra Jimenez’s body was found early Wednesday morning when Los Angeles police officers performed a wellness check at her North Hollywood home at the behest of her husband.
—Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 24 Jan. 2026
Whether by whim or at the behest of a viral social media moment, the trend du jour is often one that existed in the past and was simply rewritten overnight.
—Gabriella Onessimo, Allure, 23 Jan. 2026
His political career was literally jumpstarted at the behest of a public employee union, the Riverside County deputies union which wanted control of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
—Sal Rodriguez, Oc Register, 23 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for behest
Cite this Entry
“Behest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behest. Accessed 29 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
behest
noun
