ALL meanings of be
be
B b - auxiliary verb be You use be with a present participle to form the continuous tenses of verbs. 3
- auxiliary verb be You use be with a past participle to form the passive voice. 3
- auxiliary verb be You use be with an infinitive to indicate that something is planned to happen, that it will definitely happen, or that it must happen. 3
- auxiliary verb be You use be with an infinitive to say or ask what should happen or be done in a particular situation, how it should happen, or who should do it. 3
- auxiliary verb be You use was and were with an infinitive to talk about something that happened later than the time you are discussing, and was not planned or certain at that time. 3
- auxiliary verb be You can say that something is to be seen, heard, or found in a particular place to mean that people can see it, hear it, or find it in that place. 3
- verb be You use be to introduce more information about the subject, such as its identity, nature, qualities, or position. 3
- verb be You use be, with 'it' as the subject, in clauses where you are describing something or giving your judgment of a situation. 3
- verb be You use be with the impersonal pronoun 'there' in expressions like there is and there are to say that something exists or happens. 3
- verb be You use be as a link between a subject and a clause and in certain other clause structures, as shown below. 3
- verb be You use be in expressions like the thing is and the point is to introduce a clause in which you make a statement or give your opinion. 3
- verb be You use be in expressions like to be fair, to be honest, or to be serious to introduce an additional statement or opinion, and to indicate that you are trying to be fair, honest, or serious. 3
- verb be The form 'be' is used occasionally instead of the normal forms of the present tense, especially after 'whether'. 3
- verb be If something is, it exists. 3
- verb be To be yourself means to behave in the way that is right and natural for you and your personality. 3
- verb be to have presence in the realm of perceived reality; exist; live 3
- verb be to pay a visit; go 3
- verb be to take place; occur 3
- verb be used as a linking verb between the subject of a sentence and its noun or adjective complement or complementing phrase. In this case be expresses the relationship of either essential or incidental equivalence or identity (John is a man; John is a musician) or specifies an essential or incidental attribute (honey is sweet; Susan is angry). It is also used with an adverbial complement to indicate a relationship of location in space or time (Bill is at the office; the dance is on Saturday) 3
- verb be forms the progressive present tense 3
- verb be forms the passive voice of all transitive verbs and (archaically) certain intransitive ones 3
- verb be expresses intention, expectation, supposition, or obligation 3
- verb be forms the perfect or past perfect tense of certain intransitive verbs of motion, such as go or come 3
- abbreviation BE Belgium 3
- abbreviation BE beryllium 3
- abbreviation BE bill of exchange 3
- abbreviation BE (in the US) Board of Education 3
- abbreviation BE Bachelor of Education 3
- abbreviation BE Bachelor of Engineering 3
- abbreviation BE Baumé 3
- intransitive verb be to exist; live 3
- intransitive verb be to happen or occur 3
- intransitive verb be to remain or continue 3
- intransitive verb be to come to; belong 3
- intransitive verb be to have a place or position 3
- intransitive verb be as a copula, be links its subject to a predicate nominative, adjective, or pronoun so as to express attribution or identity, and by extension, value, cause, signification, etc.; it is sometimes equivalent to the mathematical sign (=) 3
- auxiliary verb be used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice 3
- auxiliary verb be used with the past participle of certain intransitive verbs to form a perfect tense 3
- auxiliary verb be used with the present participle of another verb to express continuation 3
- auxiliary verb be used with the present participle or infinitive of another verb to express futurity, possibility, obligation, intention, etc. 3
- noun be Law. the crime of breaking and entering: two of the elements of the crime of burglary. 1
- intransitive verb be condition, state 1
- intransitive verb be exist 1
- intransitive verb be be located 1
- intransitive verb be event: occur 1
- intransitive verb be equates two noun phrases 1
- intransitive verb be condition: age 1
- auxiliary verb be with present participle: continuous 1
- auxiliary verb be with present participle: future 1
- auxiliary verb be with past participle: passive 1