behavior

CEFRA2

/bɪˈheɪ.vjə(ɹ)/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    manner of acting or controlling yourself.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A state of probation about one's conduct.

Examples

  • Freud's insights into human behavior led to him being honored as a profound thinker.

  • Politicians are always censured for outrageous or inappropriate behavior.

At a glance

Sits at A2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
1
Synonyms
4

Also pronounced

  • /bɪˈhæɪ.vjə(ɹ)/
  • /bɪˈheːvɪjɚ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The way or manner a living creature behaves or acts generally.

  2. Human conduct relative to social norms.

  3. The way a device or system operates.

More examples

In context

  • He was on his best behavior when her family visited.

  • Teachers will probably be on their best behaviour for your visit – but don't be upset if they don't even notice you; they've got enough going on.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her aggressive blank at the meeting caused everyone to avoid her afterward.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English behavoure, behaver, from behaven (modern behave), morphologically equivalent to behave + -ior. The suffix was adopted in imitation of havour (modern haviour, havior), an etymologically unrelated word that was corrupted from Anglo‐Norman Anglo-Norman aveir and Old French Old French avoir (“property, wealth”) through false association with the native English verb have. The French term derives ultimately from Latin Latin habēre (“to have, hold”). Compare Scots havings (“behavior”), from have (“to behave”). Replaced Old English ġebǣru.