toggle menu
menu
vocabulary
1000+ books

bestow
used in a sentence

(click/touch triangles for details)
Definition to give — typically to present as an honor or give as a gift

Much more rarely, in classic literature, bestow can also mean to give more generally or to put, place, or store (to stow) something somewhere.
  • They gave her the highest honor they can bestow.
bestow = give (as an honor)
  • Our organization bestows honors, awards, and sometimes cash prizes to promising writers.
    • bestows = gives (as an honor or gift)
  • In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt
    • bestowed = given (as a gift)
  • May God bestow his blessings on your baby.
    • bestow = give (as a gift)
  • Her heart and her time were already quite full; she had neither leisure nor affection to bestow on Fanny.
    Austen, Jane  --  Mansfield Park
    • bestow = give
  • I saw your niece do more favours to the count's servingman than ever she bestowed upon me;
    William Shakespeare  --  Twelfth Night
    • bestowed = gave (as a gift)
  • If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse.
    Harriet Jacobs  --  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
    • bestowed = given as a gift
  • His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a creature of fine sensations, and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow?
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestow = give
  • Then, at Aslan's command, Peter bestowed the Knighthood of the Order of the Lion on Caspian,
    C.S. Lewis  --  Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
    • bestowed = presented as an honor
  • Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam.
    William Shakespeare  --  The Merchant of Venice
    • bestows = gives
  • Because it is a blessing that he bestows on beasts:
    William Shakespeare  --  The Comedy of Errors
    • bestows = gives as a gift
  • After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowing = giving
  • The brave fellows whom I have persuaded to be my companions look towards me for aid, but I have none to bestow.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestow = give
  • Here, I thought, is one of those whose joy-imparting smiles are bestowed on all but me.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowed = given
  • Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed?
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowed = given
  • He would talk in a cheerful accent, with an expression of goodness that bestowed pleasure even upon me.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowed = gave
  • When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowed = given
  • When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensations.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowing = giving
  • The form of the monster on whom I had bestowed existence was forever before my eyes, and I raved incessantly concerning him.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
    • bestowed = given
  • I, who had ever been surrounded by amiable companions, continually engaged in endeavouring to bestow mutual pleasure—I was now alone.
    Mary Shelley  --  Frankenstein
bestow = give

Dictionary / pronunciation — Google®Dictionary list — Onelook.com®
Search for other examples by interest
Interest — Source
General — Google News®
General — Time® Magazine
General — Twitter®