Meanings
present singular third person browbeats · participle present browbeating · participle past browbeaten · alternative brow-beat
- transitiveTo bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.
3 more examples
Beware lest thy mind be swayed by the brow-beating of the Demons.
1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 26Dudley Fitts reared far back, pronouncing her [Laura Riding] with “few equals” when it came to “browbeating an audience into conviction by sheer force of arrogance, among any poets living or dead.”
1993 November 28, Carol Muske, quoting Dudley Fitts, “Laura Riding Roughshod”, in The New York Times, →ISSNAutistics don’t need cognitive behavioral training to help us not be rules by our emotions. In fact, most of us have been browbeaten into ignoring our feelings too much.
2022, Devon Price, chapter 2, in Michele Eniclerico, editor, Unmasking Autism, New York: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 74Synonyms: bully, cow, domineer, intimidate, buffalo, bulldoze, bully, cow
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
More synonyms by meaning
verbbe bossy towards
verbdiscourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Arabic أَخَافَ, أَرْعَبَ
- أَخَافَ (ʔaḵāfa)to bully in an intimidating way
- أَرْعَبَ (ʔarʕaba)to bully in an intimidating way
- خَوَّفَ (ḵawwafa)to bully in an intimidating way
- أَرْهَبَ (ʔarhaba)to bully in an intimidating way
Bulgarian спла́швам, спла́ша
- спла́швам (splášvam)to bully in an intimidating way
- спла́ша (spláša)to bully in an intimidating way
Catalan intimidar
- intimidarto bully in an intimidating way
Czech zastrašovat, zastrašit
- zastrašovatto bully in an intimidating way
- zastrašitto bully in an intimidating way
Dutch intimideren, inschuchteren
- intimiderento bully in an intimidating way
- inschuchterento bully in an intimidating way
- bruuskerento bully in an intimidating way
Finnish pelotella, tyrannisoida
- pelotellato bully in an intimidating way
- tyrannisoidato bully in an intimidating way
- pomottaato bully in an intimidating way
French intimider, brusquer
- intimiderto bully in an intimidating way
- brusquerto bully in an intimidating way
German einschüchtern, unter Druck setzen
- einschüchternto bully in an intimidating way
- unter Druck setzento bully in an intimidating way
- tyrannisierento bully in an intimidating way
Greek αποπαίρνω
- αποπαίρνω (apopaírno)to bully in an intimidating way
Italian intimidire
- intimidireto bully in an intimidating way
Polish zastraszać, zastraszyć
- zastraszaćto bully in an intimidating way
- zastraszyćto bully in an intimidating way
Portuguese intimidar
- intimidarto bully in an intimidating way
Russian запу́гивать, пуга́ть
- запу́гивать (zapúgivatʹ)to bully in an intimidating way
- пуга́ть (pugátʹ)to bully in an intimidating way
- страща́ть (straščátʹ)to bully in an intimidating way
- наводи́ть страх (navodítʹ strax)to bully in an intimidating way
Scottish Gaelic sàraich
- sàraichto bully in an intimidating way
Spanish intimidar
- intimidarto bully in an intimidating way
Swedish köra med, tyrannisera
- köra medto bully in an intimidating way
- tyranniserato bully in an intimidating way
- hunsato bully in an intimidating way
Turkish korkutmak, göz korkutmak
- korkutmakto bully in an intimidating way
- göz korkutmakto bully in an intimidating way
- göz dağı vermekto bully in an intimidating way
Vietnamese nạt nộ, bắt nạt
- nạt nộto bully in an intimidating way
- bắt nạtto bully in an intimidating way
Cite this entry
browbeat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/browbeat
“browbeat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/browbeat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “browbeat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/browbeat.
Source: browbeat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.