hectoring

comparative more hectoring · superlative most hectoring

1. That hectors; intimidating or domineering.

   The types that started using “-maxxing” in earnest often did so with such hectoring self-seriousness that it was impossible not to parody.

   2025 October 11, Nitsuh Abebe, “The Suffix That Tells Us to Ruthlessly Optimize Everything”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 Oct 2025

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of hector

plural hectorings

1. The act of one who hectors, or acts blusteringly.

   their hectorings against an absent enemy, and their pusillanimity on his approach

   1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC