BECOMING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Becoming

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/bɪkˈəmɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Become v. t. (past became; past part. become; pres. part. becoming) 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. "It becomes me so to speak of so excellent a poet." "I have known persons so anxious to have their dress become them, as to convert it, at length, into their proper self, and thus actually to become the dress."

Become v. i. (past became; past part. become; pres. part. becoming)

To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character. "The Lord God... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." "That error now which is become my crime."

To come; to get. (Obs.) "But, madam, where is Warwick then become!"

To become of, to be the present state or place of; to be the fate of; to be the end of; to be the final or subsequent condition of. "What is then become of so huge a multitude?"

adjective

Becoming adj. Appropriate or fit; congruous; suitable; graceful; befitting. "A low and becoming tone." Note: Formerly sometimes followed by of. "Such discourses as are becoming of them."

Synonyms: Seemly; comely; decorous; decent; proper.

noun

Becoming n. That which is becoming or appropriate. (Obs.)

See images of 'Becoming'

Etymology of 'Becoming'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Becoming" Quotes from Famous Books

... a great productive force of which one could ask more, of which one could ask all things. His publishers, Chapman and Hall, seem to have taken at about this point that step which sooner or later most publishers do take with regard to a half successful man who is becoming wholly successful. Instead of asking him for something, they asked him for anything. They made him, so to speak, the editor of his own works. And indeed it is literally as the editor of his own works that he next appears; for the next thing to which ...

— Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens • G. K. Chesterton

... the "sister-disciples" were becoming more popular than ever in Petrograd society, and there were many converts to the ...

— The Minister of Evil - The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia • William Le Queux

... apt to exaggerate its own claims to mark an epoch. But, after a century of achievements in applied science, there seems little risk of error in asserting that the world is now becoming conscious as it never was before of the vast power given by material resources when under the control of a cool intelligence. And in the competition of nations it is not surprising that there should be an imperious demand for the most alert ...

— Recent Tendencies in Ethics • William Ritchie Sorley

... him, declaring that no medical man could possibly have a disinterested opinion on the subject. Then he brought out all that he vaguely knew of Malthusianism, the geometrical increase of births, and the arithmetical increase of food-substances, the earth becoming so populous as to be reduced to a state of famine within two centuries. It was the poor's own fault, said he, if they led a life of starvation; they had only to limit themselves to as many children as they could provide for. ...

— Fruitfulness - Fecondite • Emile Zola

... true." He was becoming exasperated at last. "You seem to spend your time in finding out how to make life intolerable. You are driving me mad. I cannot bear it ...

— Casa Braccio, Volumes 1 and 2 (of 2) • F. Marion Crawford

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