Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

being

2 noun
     
being2 S2 W3
1

come into being/be brought into being

to start to exist:
a law that first came into being in 1912
2 [countable]HBH a living thing, especially a person:
intelligent/conscious/rational etc being
a story about alien beings who invade Earth
3 [uncountable] literary the most important quality or nature of something, especially of a person
the core/roots/whole of somebody's being
The whole of her being had been taken over by a desire to return to her homeland.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary