become

become
verb /bI'kVm/ past tense became /bi'keIm/ past participle become
1 (linking verb) to begin to be something, or to develop in a particular way: He became King at the age of 17. | After the death of her father she became the richest woman in the world. | The weather became warmer. | We soon became acclimatized to the warmer weather. | These constant delays are becoming a bit of a bore. | She became increasingly anxious about her husband's strange behaviour. | He withdrew from the competition when it became clear that he stood no chance of winning.
2 (transitive not in progressive) formal to suit someone or be suitable for them: This sort of behaviour hardly becomes a person in your position.
3 what has become of...?/whatever will become of...? used to ask what has happened to someone, especially when you have not seen them for a long time, or what will happen to someone that you are worried about: Whatever will become of Sam when his wife dies?
USAGE NOTE: BECOME WORD CHOICE become, get, turn, go, come Become and get can be used with most types of adjective to describe changes in people and things. Become is more common in writing, and get in spoken English, especially where a quick change is involved: The sky became/got cloudy. | Crime is becoming more widespread. | It became clear that he was lying. | It gets dark early now. | I'm getting wet standing here. | Your dinner's getting cold. When things change colour, turn can be used, or less formally go (especially if the change does not last long). Compare: Jonathan turned/went pale when he heard the news. | It's that time of year when the leaves go/turn golden. Go can also be used where someone's mind or body changes for the worse: He went crazy/blind/deaf/bald (but He fell sick/ill). Go is used in a similar meaning with some things: The meat's gone bad. | Everything went wrong/haywire. But in other situations turn is used: The milk's turned/gone sour. | The situation turned nasty. Come is used only in very few expressions where something gets better: It came right in the end. | All my dreams have come true (NOT become/get here). Otherwise people use become or get again: He eventually got better. GRAMMAR Become is never followed by an infinitive though come can be: After a while I came to like Chicago (NOT ...became to like...).

Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 2004.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Become — Be*come , v. i. [imp. {Became}; p. p. {Become}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Becoming}.] [OE. bicumen, becumen, AS. becuman to come to, to happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piqu[ e]man, Goth. biquiman to come upon, G. bekommen to get, suit. See {Be }, and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Become — Be*come , v. i. [imp. {Became}; p. p. {Become}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Becoming}.] [OE. bicumen, becumen, AS. becuman to come to, to happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piqu[ e]man, Goth. biquiman to come upon, G. bekommen to get, suit. See {Be }, and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Become — Be*come , v. t. To suit or be suitable to; to be congruous with; to befit; to accord with, in character or circumstances; to be worthy of, or proper for; to cause to appear well; said of persons and things. [1913 Webster] It becomes me so to… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • become — I (arise) verb befall, come about, come into being, come into existence, commence, ensue, germinate, happen, materialize, occur, proceed, result, succeed II (develop) verb adorn, alter, arise, befit, behoove, benefit, beseem, change into, come to …   Law dictionary

  • become — verb (became; come; coming) Etymology: Middle English, to come to, become, from Old English becuman, from be + cuman to come Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1. a. to come into …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • become — /bi kum /, v., became, become, becoming. v.i. 1. to come, change, or grow to be (as specified): He became tired. 2. to come into being. v.t. 3. to be attractive on; befit in appearance; look well on: That gown becomes you. 4. to be suitable or… …   Universalium

  • become — verb Become is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑mood, ↑society, ↑weather Become is used with these nouns as the object: ↑addiction, ↑alcoholic, ↑archbishop, ↑burden, ↑caricature, ↑Catholic, ↑champion, ↑ …   Collocations dictionary

  • become of — {v. phr.} To happen to; befall. * /What will become of the children, now that both parents are in jail?/ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • become of — {v. phr.} To happen to; befall. * /What will become of the children, now that both parents are in jail?/ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • become — Synonyms and related words: adorn, agree with, alter into, arise, assimilate to, be born, be bound, be changed, be converted into, be obligated, be obliged, become of, befit, behoove, beseem, break out, bring to, burst forth, change, change into …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Become.com — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Become.com es un motor de búsqueda de Internet que sirve para realizar comparación de precios entre varias páginas y tiendas que posean catalogo en Internet, para ayudar a los compradores a elegir correctamente una… …   Wikipedia Español

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