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In Return of the Jedi, the villain Darth Vader speaks with an old-timey flair when he asks his boss, the Emperor, for instructions: “What is thy bidding, my master?” If the film’s screenwriters wanted him to sound even more old-timey, however, they could have chosen to have him ask “What is thy behest?” As a word for a command or order, behest predates bidding in English by a couple centuries, dating all the way back—long, long ago, though still in this galaxy—to the 1100s. Its Old English ancestor, the noun behǣs, referred to a promise, a meaning that continued on in Middle English especially in the phrase “the land of behest” but is now obsolete. The “command” sense of behest is still in good use, typically referring to an authoritative order, whether from an emperor or some other high-ranking figure. Behest is now also used with a less forceful meaning; it can refer to an urgent prompting, as in “an anniversary showing of classic films at the behest of the franchise’s fans.”
Examples of behest in a Sentence
Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 11 Feb. 2026
The attorney did not name the ex-councilmember, but several Oakland officials have been identified by city ethics watchdogs as receiving donations from people allegedly at the behest of the Duong family.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 11 Feb. 2026
Written in a joking and contemptuous tone, the tweet would take on an indescribably morbid weight just five days later, when, at the behest of Governor Cláudio Castro, the Rio de Janeiro police carried out the deadliest massacre in the country’s history.
—Evandro Cruz Silva, The Dial, 10 Feb. 2026
Lawmakers are considering potential changes to immigration enforcement operations at the behest of Democrats who refused to fund the agency without reforms.
—Barbara Sprunt, NPR, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for behest
Cite this Entry
“Behest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behest. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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behest
noun
