Meanings
nounbribe (plural bribes)
plural bribes
- Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.
c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.
1 more example
The bribes I took did not influence me to become evil. I was evil from the beginning and the bribes were merely a bonus
2024 June 17, @InternetHippo, Twitter, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2024 - The act of offering or paying such a payment: an act of bribery.
- That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.
1744, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination1 more example
Remy, this was a bribe! Our whole marriage has been nothing but a series of bribes!
1974, George Fox, Mario Puzo, Earthquake
verbbribe (third-person singular simple present bribes, present participle bribing, simple past and past participle bribed)
present singular third person bribes · participle present bribing · participle past bribed · past bribed
- transitiveTo give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something against their original will, in exchange for some type of reward or relief from potential trouble.
She was accused of trying to bribe the jury into making false statements.
1 more example
October 23, 1848, Frederick William Robertson, an address delivered at the Opening of The Working Men's Institute Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.
- transitiveTo gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.
to bribe somebody's compliance
Synonyms & antonyms
Broader
nounpayment made to a person in a position of trust to corrupt their judgment
Similar
Broader
verbmake illegal payments to in exchange for favors or influence
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchbriber“go begging”
- Middle Englishbribe
- Englishbribe
From Middle English bribe, from Old French briber (“go begging”), from the noun bribe (“a gift”).
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans omkoopgeld
- omkoopgeldinducement to a breaking of the rules
Ancient Greek δωροδοκέω
- δωροδοκέω (dōrodokéō)to give a bribe
Arabic رَشْوَة, رِشْوَة
- رَشْوَة (rašwa)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- رِشْوَة (rišwa)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- رُشْوَة (rušwa)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- بِرْطِيل (birṭīl)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- رَشَا (rašā)to give a bribe
Basque erosi
- erosito give a bribe
Bengali ঘুষ
- ঘুষ (ghuś)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Bulgarian по́дкуп, рушве́т
- по́дкуп (pódkup)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- рушве́т (rušvét)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- подку́пвам (podkúpvam)to give a bribe
- подку́пя (podkúpja)to give a bribe
Catalan suborn, subornar
- suborninducement to a breaking of the rules
- subornarto give a bribe
Chinese Cantonese 賄賂 /贿赂
- 賄賂 /贿赂 (kui² lou⁶)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Chinese Mandarin 賄賂 /贿赂, 行賄 /行贿
- 賄賂 /贿赂 (huìlù)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- 行賄 /行贿 (xínghuì)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- 賄賂 /贿赂 (huìlù)to give a bribe
- 行賄 /行贿 (xínghuì)to give a bribe
Czech úplatek, uplatit
- úplatekinducement to a breaking of the rules
- uplatitto give a bribe
- podplatitto give a bribe
Danish bestikkelse, bestikke
- bestikkelseinducement to a breaking of the rules
- bestikketo give a bribe
Dutch steekpenning, smeergeld
- steekpenninginducement to a breaking of the rules
- smeergeldinducement to a breaking of the rules
- omkopento give a bribe
Esperanto koruptaĵo, ŝmirmono
- koruptaĵoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- ŝmirmonoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- koruptito give a bribe
- subaĉetito give a bribe
Estonian pistis, altkäemaks
- pistisinducement to a breaking of the rules
- altkäemaksinducement to a breaking of the rules
Finnish lahjus, lahjoa
- lahjusinducement to a breaking of the rules
- lahjoato give a bribe
French pot-de-vin, verser un pot-de-vin
- pot-de-vininducement to a breaking of the rules
- verser un pot-de-vinto give a bribe
- soudoyerto give a bribe
- corrompreto give a bribe
German Bestechungsgeld, Schmiergeld
- Bestechungsgeldinducement to a breaking of the rules
- Schmiergeldinducement to a breaking of the rules
- bestechento give a bribe
- schmierento give a bribe
- kaufento give a bribe
Greek δωροδοκία, δωροληψία
- δωροδοκία (dorodokía)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- δωροληψία (dorolipsía)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- φακελάκι (fakeláki)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- δωροδοκώ (dorodokó)to give a bribe
Hebrew שׁוֹחַד, שיחד
- שׁוֹחַד (shókhad)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- שיחד (shichéd)to give a bribe
Hindi रिश्वत, घूस
- रिश्वत (riśvat)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- घूस (ghūs)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- घूस देना (ghūs denā)to give a bribe
Hungarian megvesztegetés, csúszópénz
- megvesztegetésinducement to a breaking of the rules
- csúszópénzinducement to a breaking of the rules
- vesztegetésinducement to a breaking of the rules
- kenőpénzinducement to a breaking of the rules
- vesztegetto give a bribe
- megvesztegetto give a bribe
- lefizetto give a bribe
- megkento give a bribe
Icelandic múta, múta
- mútainducement to a breaking of the rules
- mútato give a bribe
Indonesian suap, sogokan
- suapinducement to a breaking of the rules
- sogokaninducement to a breaking of the rules
- rasywahinducement to a breaking of the rules
- menyuapto give a bribe
- menyogokto give a bribe
Irish breab a thabhairt
- breab a thabhairtto give a bribe
Italian tangente, bustarella
- tangenteinducement to a breaking of the rules
- bustarellainducement to a breaking of the rules
- mazzettainducement to a breaking of the rules
- offrire una tangenteto give a bribe
- corrompereto give a bribe
Japanese 賄賂
- 賄賂 (wairo)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Korean 뇌물, 뢰물
- 뇌물 (noemul)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- 뢰물 (roemul)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- 회뢰 (hoeroe)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Latin ēmercātiō
- ēmercātiōinducement to a breaking of the rules
Latvian kukulis, kukuļot
- kukulisinducement to a breaking of the rules
- kukuļotto give a bribe
Lithuanian kyšis, papirkti
- kyšisinducement to a breaking of the rules
- papirktito give a bribe
Malay rasuah, duit kopi
- rasuahinducement to a breaking of the rules
- duit kopiinducement to a breaking of the rules
Māori moni whakapati, koha whakapati
- moni whakapatiinducement to a breaking of the rules
- koha whakapatiinducement to a breaking of the rules
- utu whakapatiinducement to a breaking of the rules
- whakapatito give a bribe
Norwegian Bokmål bestikkelse, bestikke
- bestikkelseinducement to a breaking of the rules
- bestikketo give a bribe
Persian رشوه دادن
- رشوه دادن (rešve dâdan)to give a bribe
Polish łapówka, wziątka
- łapówkainducement to a breaking of the rules
- wziątkainducement to a breaking of the rules
- załącznikinducement to a breaking of the rules
- kubaninducement to a breaking of the rules
- dawać łapówkęto give a bribe
- przekupićto give a bribe
Portuguese suborno, propina
- subornoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- propinainducement to a breaking of the rules
- subornarto give a bribe
Punjabi ਰਿਸ਼ਵਤ
- ਰਿਸ਼ਵਤ (riśvat)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Romanian mită, șpagă
- mităinducement to a breaking of the rules
- șpagăinducement to a breaking of the rules
Russian взя́тка, по́дкуп
- взя́тка (vzjátka)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- по́дкуп (pódkup)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- мзда (mzda)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- дава́ть взя́тку (davátʹ vzjátku)to give a bribe
- подкупа́ть (podkupátʹ)to give a bribe
- подкупи́ть (podkupítʹ)to give a bribe
Slovak úplatok
- úplatokinducement to a breaking of the rules
Spanish soborno, coima
- sobornoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- coimainducement to a breaking of the rules
- mordidainducement to a breaking of the rules
- alfadíainducement to a breaking of the rules
- cañonazoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- untadainducement to a breaking of the rules
- untoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- merusainducement to a breaking of the rules
- bajíninducement to a breaking of the rules
- embuteinducement to a breaking of the rules
- convolutoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- sobornarto give a bribe
- cohecharto give a bribe
- coimearto give a bribe
- aceitarto give a bribe
- untarto give a bribe
- comprarto give a bribe
- corromperto give a bribe
- ticuicearto give a bribe
Swahili hongo, rushwa
- hongoinducement to a breaking of the rules
- rushwainducement to a breaking of the rules
- -hongato give a bribe
Swedish muta, dusör
- mutainducement to a breaking of the rules
- dusörinducement to a breaking of the rules
- mutato give a bribe
- bestickato give a bribe
Tagalog suhol, lagay
- suholinducement to a breaking of the rules
- lagayinducement to a breaking of the rules
- manuholto give a bribe
- maglagayto give a bribe
Tamil லஞ்சம்
- லஞ்சம் (lañcam)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Thai สินบน, ส่วย
- สินบน (sǐn-bon)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- ส่วย (sùai)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Turkish rüşvet, rüşvet vermek
- rüşvetinducement to a breaking of the rules
- rüşvet vermekto give a bribe
Ukrainian хаба́р, пі́дкуп
- хаба́р (xabár)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- пі́дкуп (pídkup)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- дава́ти хаба́р (daváty xabár)to give a bribe
- підкупо́вувати (pidkupóvuvaty)to give a bribe
- підкупля́ти (pidkupljáty)to give a bribe
- підкупи́ти (pidkupýty)to give a bribe
Urdu رِشْوَت, گُھوس
- رِشْوَت (riśvat)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- گُھوس (ghūs)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- یافْت (yāft)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- پارَہ (pāra)inducement to a breaking of the rules
Vietnamese hối lộ, đút lót
- hối lộinducement to a breaking of the rules
- đút lótinducement to a breaking of the rules
- đút lótto give a bribe
- đútto give a bribe
- hối lộto give a bribe
Welsh llwgrwobr, llwgrwobrwy
- llwgrwobrinducement to a breaking of the rules
- llwgrwobrwyinducement to a breaking of the rules
- cildwrninducement to a breaking of the rules
- llwgrwobrwyoto give a bribe
Yiddish שמיר, שמירן
- שמיר (shmir)inducement to a breaking of the rules
- שמירן (shmirn)to give a bribe
- אונטערקויפֿן (unterkoyfn)to give a bribe
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with bribe
subscribedescribeunsubscribevibeprescribescribetranscribeascribejibeinscribeimbibeproscribecircumscribegybebibekibe
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
bribe. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bribe
MLA
“bribe.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bribe. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bribe,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bribe.
Source: bribe on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.