gift
noun
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
gift
1 American
[gift]
/ gɪft /
noun
-
gifts
plural
-
something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.
-
the act of giving.
-
something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient or without its being earned.
Those extra points he got in the game were a total gift.
-
a special ability or capacity; natural endowment; talent.
the gift of saying the right thing at the right time.
verb (used with object)
-
gifts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
gifted,
past participle, past
-
gifting
present participle
-
to present with as a gift; bestow gifts upon; endow with.
-
to present (someone) with a gift.
just the thing to gift the newlyweds.
GIFT
2
American
[gift]
/ gɪft /
noun
gift
1
British
/ ɡɪft /
noun
-
something given; a present
-
a special aptitude, ability, or power; talent
-
the power or right to give or bestow (esp in the phrases in the gift of, in ( someone's ) gift )
-
the act or process of giving
-
(usually negative) to find fault with a free gift or chance benefit
verb
-
to present (something) as a gift to (a person)
-
(often foll by with) to present (someone) with a gift
-
rare to endow with; bestow
GIFT
2
British
/ ɡɪft /
acronym
gift
Idioms
Synonym Usage
See present 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
giftsimple
-
giftssimple
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have giftedperfect
-
has giftedperfect
-
am giftingprogressive
-
are giftingprogressive
-
is giftingprogressive
-
have been giftingperfect progressive
-
has been giftingperfect progressive
Past
-
giftedsimple
-
had giftedperfect
-
was giftingprogressive
-
were giftingprogressive
-
had been giftingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gift
First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English, from Old Norse gift; cognate with Old English gift ( Middle English yift ) “marriage gift”; akin to give
Explanation
A gift is an item that's given without any expectation of payment — it's a present. A gift may be the present you receive on your birthday or it may be a natural gift or talent you possess — like your gift for reading lips. People give gifts to mark special occasions, like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. and some holidays. Sometimes tourists buy gifts while on vacation and bring them home to their friends and family. Another kind of gift is a special ability: "She has such a gift for learning languages." The root of gift is probably the Old Norse gipt or gift, which means both "gift" and "good luck."
Vocabulary lists containing gift
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The gift shop overflowed with people buying beaded bracelets and amulets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Inside was a personal check for $500,000, a gift to the company from Degorce.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Sky News says it did not interact with his daughter, and was trying to ask Farage about a £5m gift he received from cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne before he entered Parliament in July 2024.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
I received a 200-piece set as a gift when I graduated from high school in 2015 and have used it regularly ever since.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Why have I not heard of your daughter’s marvelous gift before?” asked King Barf.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
PGA GIFT: All the past PGA champions at Quail Hollow might have stars in their eyes.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2017
In GIFT, by contrast, the embryo drifts quietly into the uterus, much as it would naturally.
From Time Magazine Archive
Asch was trying to find a simpler way to do IVF, one that would not require the skills of an embryologist, when he hit upon the procedure he called gamete intra-Fallopian transfer, or GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
The Los Angeles couple went through a five-year effort that included hormone treatment, artificial insemination, an ectopic pregnancy, sperm washing and finally GIFT.
From Time Magazine Archive
PARENTS' CHRISTMAS-BOX and NEW-YEAR's GIFT; containing the various Predictions of the Prophets respecting Jesus Christ. 1s.
From Jemima Placid or, The Advantage of Good-Nature by Mary Ann (n?e Maze) Kilner
Separately, Burnham has also listed hospitality and gifts he received in the year before he returned to Parliament, including trips to Glastonbury, Lancashire Cricket Club and the Aintree Racecourse.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
For much of history, presidents adhered to them, including by seeking approval from Congress before accepting gifts from foreign states and foreign leaders.
From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026
Roggatz, 35, dutifully got to work ridding his grass of the gifts from his dogs, Django and Scout, with a plastic bag pinched between his fingers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
At their gravesites, we placed two metal sculptures, the “Final Blaze,” gifts from the Appalachian Trail community, many members of whom came to shovel earth upon the graves.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
As I walk back to class, I think about what Kumu Maka said, how one of their gifts comes from building a place in the middle.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
He added that she was "tremendously gifted" and passed her passion for music on to her family and the wider community through the founding of the Armagh Pipers Club with her husband, Brian.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
The line that set off the frenzy, in its entirety, is: “He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
“He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
An international cast fueled a show that featured people gifted with superpowers around the world that had a mysteriously ominous connection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026
She must’ve fought to believe that she was a normal person, just like everyone else, and not a gifted spiritist, linked to a legacy of magic.
From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older
Katie: I’ve seen brands sprinkle those old marketer favorites—surprise and delight—across Reddit, direct-messaging fans for gifting and giveaways.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Once their spring blooms are complete, Aggrey meticulously collects the seed pods from the clarkias, gilias and phacelias, processes the seeds and packages them for gifting before the subsequent spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
Critics have raised a host of ethical, constitutional and security concerns about the gifting of an aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars by a foreign power like Qatar.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
My wife and I might invest the proceeds, start gifting to family or buy a vacation home.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
He flips it on and reaches one arm across the back of the couch, gifting us with an unpleasant whiff of his armpits.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
