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Definition of "beckon" []

  • To signal or summon, as by nodding or waving. (verb-transitive)
  • To attract because of an inviting or enticing appearance: "a lovely, sunny country that seemed to beckon them on to the Emerald City” ( L. Frank Baum). (verb-transitive)
  • To make a signaling or summoning gesture. (verb-intransitive)
  • To be inviting or enticing. (verb-intransitive)
  • A gesture of summons. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "beckon" in a sentence
  • "These beckon from the autumn window seat of our childhood, and outside a cheerful cataract and swift descending stream froths between large, round rocks calling."
  • "The Tibetan scarves that dance and beckon from the tables of street vendors are orange."
  • "We all know that one won't disappear into the frozen landscape of her faraway Arctic state — not when book deals, party leadership and media stardom beckon from the Lower 48."