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 latter often has a gift tax attached.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
He’s a billionaire with a checkered past and no gift for oration.
From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026
And yet she has a gift for making politics relatable without enraging rhetoric since, as she points out, political figures are celebrities too.
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
Milan Dwimfo runs a jewelry and gift store named after its founder, Sika, who was her late father and a Leimert Park pioneer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
"I'm transporting two brave lions to the Court. They are a gift to the King. The banners mean that the cargo is His Majesty's property."
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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
"OUR GIFT" has been prepared as a token of affection for our Sunday school Pupils, and it is hoped that it may serve a similar purpose in the hands of other teachers.
From Our Gift by Boston Teachers of the School Street Universalist Sunday School
If one person is offering gifts or another person seeks social connections, that’s when a friendship can become transactional.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
Khan has been detained since 2023, when he was sentenced to three years in prison for not declaring money earned from selling gifts he had received while in office.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
“Bunny” author Mona Awad’s spread of her fan art and gifts in her home in La Jolla.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
Shatz, the publicist, usually caps gifts at $100 per couple, especially when she has to travel far to their wedding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
He was always leaving little gifts in Nate’s tent—a pair of wool socks, a tin canteen.
From I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 by Lauren Tarshis
I like Mr. Hassen’s idea of encouraging “our most gifted entrepreneurs, lawyers and others to spend a year or two in public service” to increase government efficiency and reduce costs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Also among the items due to go under the hammer is a pair of Adidas Kegler Super Ostrich trainers gifted to Noel Gallagher.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Eyal Berkovic and Yossi Benayoun were technical, gifted attackers with long Premier League careers.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
What if we encouraged our most gifted entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers and others to spend a year or two in public service at the federal and state levels?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Papa had only three books total, leather bound and heavy, which Babulya had gifted to him when he had converted to Judaism.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
One of Burning Man’s 10 principles is gifting, which is why the festival runs on a gifting economy.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
We break down several tax-centric misconceptions about gifting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
After the United States, the gifting initiative launched in Canada in 2006, then the U.K. in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
By gifting you the house, you received your mother’s tax basis rather than a step-up to its fair market value.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Thank you for the ride,” she says, gifting him with a radiant smile.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
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.
