Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - become

~ v past tense became past participle become 1 linking verb to begin to be something, or to develop in a particular way  (He became King at the age of 17. | After the death of her father she became the richest woman in the world. | The weather became warmer. | We soon became acclimatized to the warmer weather. | These constant delays are becoming a bit of a bore. | She became increasingly anxious about her husband's strange behaviour. | He withdrew from the competition when it became clear that he stood no chance of winning.) 2 formal to suit someone or be suitable for them  (This sort of behaviour hardly becomes a person in your position.) 3 what has become of...?/whatever will become of...? used to ask what has happened to someone, especially when you have not seen them for a long time, or what will happen to someone that you are worried about  (Whatever will become of Sam when his wife dies?)  ( USAGE NOTE: BECOME WORD CHOICE become, get, turn, go, come Become and get can be used with most types of adj to describe changes in people and things. Become is more common in writing, and get in spoken English, especially where a quick change is involved The sky became/got cloudy. | Crime is becoming more widespread. | It became clear that he was lying. | It gets dark early now. | I'm getting wet standing here. | Your dinner's getting cold. When things change colour, turn can be used, or less formally go (especially if the change does not last long). Compare Jonathan turned/went pale when he heard the news. | It's that time of year when the leaves go/turn golden. Go can also be used where someone's mind or body changes for the worse He went crazy/blind/deaf/bald (but He fell sick/ill). Go is used in a similar meaning with some things The meat's gone bad. | Everything went wrong/haywire. But in other situations turn is used The milk's turned/gone sour. | The situation turned nasty. Come is used only in very few expressions where something gets better It came right in the end. | All my dreams have come true (NOT become/get here). Otherwise people use become or get again He eventually got better. GRAMMAR Become is never followed by an infinitive though come can be After a while I came to like Chicago (NOT ...became to like...). )