Word family noun behaviour/behavior misbehaviour/misbehavior behaviourism/behaviorism behaviourist/behaviorist adjective behavioural/behavioral verb behave misbehave adverb behaviourally/behaviorally
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbehavebe‧have /bɪˈheɪv/ ●●● S3 W3 verb [intransitive] 1 [always + adverb/preposition]BEHAVE to do things that are good, bad, sensible etc SYN act She behaved in a very responsible way.behave towards I think he behaved disgracefully towards you.behave like grown men behaving like schoolboysbehave as if/though He was a little boy, but he behaved as if he was an adult.2 (also behave yourself)BEHAVE to not do things that annoy or offend people OPP misbehave Will you children please behave! I hope Nicholas behaved himself at the party.well-behaved/badly-behaved a badly-behaved class3 [always + adverb/preposition]DO if something behaves in a particular way, it does those things Quantum mechanics is the study of the way atoms behave.THESAURUSbehave to do and say things that are good, bad, normal, strange etcHis teacher said he’d been behaving badly at school.I’m not going to talk to her until she starts behaving reasonably.Oh, be quiet! You’re behaving like a two-year-old.act to behave in a particular way, especially in a way that seems unusual, surprising, or annoying to other peopleTina’s been acting very strangely lately.What makes grown people act like that?treat to behave towards someone or deal with someone in a particular wayShe said that he’d treated her really badly throughout their two-year marriage.I’m sick of my parents treating me like a child.conform to behave in the way that most other people in your group or society behaveYoung people sometimes want to rebel and therefore they refuse to conform.Society typically brings pressure on individuals and groups to conform to civilised norms.conduct yourself formal to behave in a particular way, especially in a situation where people will notice and judge the way you behavePublic figures have a duty to conduct themselves responsibly, even in their private lives.By the end of the course, you should be able to conduct yourself with confidence in any meeting. → See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
behave• Her kids just don't know how to behave.• Although men provide more menace to the basis of a society, it is women who are instructed in how to behave.• The next time I saw him, Frank behaved as if nothing had happened.• Then a great many of the bar's occupants began to behave as if they had just remembered urgent appointments.• Eventually, the children themselves may begin to understand their own feelings, and why they behave as they do.• How does Sam behave at school?• You behaved bravely in a very difficult situation.• A police spokesman said the demonstrators were well behaved but wet.• If you two don't behave, I'm taking you straight home.• The best way to behave is to act assertively, she said.• Oh, be quiet! You're behaving like a two-year-old.• I'm not going to talk to him until he starts behaving reasonably.• Given that male albatrosses have the same genetic incentives as male elephant seals, why do they behave so differently?• She had behaved very reasonably, she told her husband afterwards.• William was behaving very strangely towards me.• If you behave yourself, I'll let you stay up to watch the movie.• Make sure you behave yourselves when we visit Grandma.behaved in a ... way• As an entity, the United States behaved in the same way.• If they had been in their subordinates' shoes, they would have behaved in the same way.• We can imagine that, if we believed what the Calvinists believed, we would have behaved in the same way.• She behaved in this way ever since the first attempt...• That the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner can not reasonably be expected to live with the respondent.• She behaved in a shocking way towards her.• In return, they have, not surprisingly, behaved in ways which confirmed these perceptions.• Some at least of the leading Romans felt and behaved in a way which seemed to him perfectly understandable and eminently sensible.From Longman Business Dictionarybehavebe‧have /bɪˈheɪv/ verb [intransitive] to act or to do something in a particular wayBoth gold and oil prices behaved exactly as analysts and investors had been predicting.→ See Verb tableOrigin behave (1400-1500) have “to hold or bear (yourself), behave” ((14-16 centuries)) 