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beg

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To request the help of someone, often in the form of money.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

behg
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈbɛɡ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To request the help of someone, often in the form of money.

  2. transitive

    To plead with someone for help, a favor, etc.; to entreat.

  3. transitive or intransitive

    To obviously lack or be in need of something.

  4. transitiveproscribed

    In the phrase beg the question: to raise (a question).

  5. transitive

    In the phrase beg the question: to assume.

  6. Ask to obtain free

noun

  1. The act of begging; an imploring request.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: To request the help of someone, often in the form of money.

Used this way, beg is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

therefore beghumbly begnow begearnestly beg

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • beg offverbCompound term

    Ask for permission to be released from an engagement.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: begging

imploreArchaic

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.