become Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb enter or assume a certain state or condition
    go; get.
    • He became annoyed when he heard the bad news
    • It must be getting more serious
    • her face went red with anger
    • She went into ecstasy
    • Get going!
  2. verb undergo a change or development
    turn.
    • The water turned into ice
    • Her former friend became her worst enemy
    • He turned traitor
  3. verb come into existence
    • What becomes has duration
  4. verb enhance the appearance of
    suit.
    • Mourning becomes Electra
    • This behavior doesn't suit you!

WordNet

Be*come" intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. bicumen, becumen, AS. becuman to come to, to happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piquëman, Goth. biquiman to come upon, G. bekommen to get, suit. See Be-, and Come.
Wordforms
imperfect Became ; past participle Become; present participle & verbal noun Becoming
Definitions
  1. 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. Gen. ii. 7.
    That error now which is become my crime. Milton.
  2. To come; to get. Obs.
    But, madam, where is Warwick then become! Shak.
    What is then become of so huge a multitude? Sir W. Raleigh.
Be*come" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. 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. Dryden.
    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. Coleridge.

Webster 1913