Link Centre Dictionary

be

UK/beɪ/ US/bə/ very common literary
verb (13) noun (1)

verb

1.

have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)

  • “John is rich”
  • “This is not a good answer”
2.

be identical to; be someone or something

  • “The president of the company is John Smith”
  • “This is my house”
3.

occupy a certain position or area; be somewhere

  • “Where is my umbrella?”
  • “The toolshed is in the back”
  • “What is behind this behavior?”
4.

have an existence, be extant

  • “Is there a God?”
Synonyms
5.

happen, occur, take place

  • “I lost my wallet; this was during the visit to my parents”
  • “;”
  • “;”
6.

be identical or equivalent to

  • “One dollar equals 1,000 rubles these days!”
Synonyms
Antonyms
7.

form or compose

  • “This money is my only income”
  • “The stone wall was the backdrop for the performance”
  • “These constitute my entire belonging”
  • “The children made up the chorus”
  • “This sum represents my entire income for a year”
  • “These few men comprise his entire army”
Synonyms
8.

work in a specific place, with a specific subject, or in a specific function

  • “He is a herpetologist”
  • “She is our resident philosopher”
Synonyms
9.

represent, as of a character on stage

  • “Derek Jacobi was Hamlet”
Synonyms
10.

spend or use time

  • “I may be an hour”
11.

have life, be alive

  • “Our great leader is no more”
  • “My grandfather lived until the end of war”
Synonyms
12.

to remain unmolested, undisturbed, or uninterrupted -- used only in infinitive form

  • “let her be”
13.

be priced at

  • “These shoes cost $100”
Synonyms

noun

1.

Origin

From Middle English been (“to be”). See below for more. Further etymology of be and its conjugated forms The various forms have three separate origins, which were mixed together at various times in the history of English. * The forms beginning with b- come from Old English bēon (“to be, become”), from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, exist, come to be, become”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-yé-ti (“to grow, become, come into being, appear”), from the root *bʰuH-. In particular: ** Now-dialectal use of been as an infinitive of be is either from Middle English been (“to be”) or an extension of the past participle. ** Now-obsolete use of been as a plural present tense (meaning "are") is from Middle English been, be (present plural of been (“to be”), with the -n leveled in from the past and subjunctive; compare competing forms aren/are). ** Use of been as a past participle is from Middle English been, ybeen, from Old English ġebēon. * The forms beginning with w- come from the aforementioned Old English bēon, which shared its past tense with the verb wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to reside”). * The remaining fo...

Phrases

  • be about to
  • be cool
  • be fearful when others are greedy
  • be going to
  • be judge and jury
  • be no match for
  • be onto nothing
  • be quiet

Related words

Word family

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.