Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To intimidate or subjugate by an overbearing manner or domineering speech; bully. See Synonyms at intimidate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To depress or bear down with haughty, stern looks, or with arrogant speech and dogmatic assertions; in general, to bear down by impudence.
- Synonyms To overbear, insult, bully, hector.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To depress or bear down with haughty, stern looks, or with arrogant speech and dogmatic assertions; to abash or disconcert by impudent or abusive words or looks; to bully.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be bossy towards
- v. discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate.
Examples
“Q Mike, this statement says that "browbeat" and "badger," those two words, what the prosecutor tried to do.”
“Miami, is attempting "browbeat" deep-pocketed targets in the media in an attempt to force settlements in the RRA bankruptcy.”
Philadelphia Business News - Local Philadelphia News | The Philadelphia Business Journal
“Tony Woodley, joint leader of Unite, also mounted another attack on the company for trying to "browbeat" its staff into accepting worse pay and conditions.”
WN.com - Articles related to Dubai gives $9.5bn support to struggling investment company
“Spitzer thought the voters had given him a mandate to deliver his agenda, and he tried quickly and publicly to browbeat the legislature into submission.”
The Huffington Post: Dan Collins: Andrew Cuomo Has a Good Thing Going
“They browbeat my sister to order my execution, virtually to the moment of her final breath.”
Simon & Schuster: Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer
“They “browbeat and discouraged” the militia and presented “an example of all manner of debauchery, vice, and idleness when they lie skulking in forts,” while the country was “ravaged in their very neighborhood.””
“To browbeat CBS into a second season was a miracle in itself.”
“Busiest of all was Bunting, who, with his associate Robert Joe Wagner, browbeat others into helping them torture and murder 10 men and a woman, including relatives and friends, between 1992 and 1999.”
“It could be mistaken for an Arcade Fire song, except for the fact that it doesn't browbeat you with an Important Message about an Important Subject.”
The Washington Post: Album review: British Sea Power, "Valhalla Dancehall"
“They attempt to browbeat readers into accepting their special pleading, assertion and question begging.”
The Guardian: Who will confront the hatred in Hungary? | Nick Cohen
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘browbeat’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Public List: Body Metaphors
Phrases that use body parts metaphorically.
neck of the woods, bone of contention, mouth of a river, teeth of the storm, heart of the matter, foot of the bed, eye of the storm, dogleg hole, finger lakes, headwaters, foothills, knik arm and 212 more...
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WF - nominal compounds (figurative)
An extensive list I have been working on for quite some time. Feel free to add more of the kind if you miss any.
brainstorming, upside, downside, goldplating, bikeshedding, mudslinging, downgrading, headhunter, streamlining, mainstreaming, gerrymandering, frontloading and 503 more...
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Fictional music genres
fudgepunk, whangboogie, electrogush, jizzbilly, glambient, queasy listening, chip shop, baroque'n'roll, prog folk, chemo, riant grrl, blingfolk and 584 more...
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GRE Study guide
Going through the Magoosh website, words I pulled from the verbal section. 2012.
magnanimous, correlate, anglicized, simulacrum, tantamount, obsequiousness, subterfuge, vehement, vociferous, benign, concomitant, veracity and 83 more...
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Brow now
frontlet, Veronica, tres-tyne, rusine, beetle brow, Elphin, vibrissa, corrugator, brownie, nutbrown, brownian, browsing and 7 more...
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Wordsthatcouldbeusedinmyth
bicephalous, invertebrate, amaranthine, befuddle, browbeat, expurgation, bigoted, groan, telic, untoward, mummer, formalist and 17 more...
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GRE
abase, broach, brocade, burgeon, bungle, bureaucracy, burly, burnished, browbeat, brusque, bucolic, buffoonery and 21 more...
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Words I would use improperly
Words you could as a different meaning, but an intellectual could not follow the conversation
fireboard, grayish-pink, comely, slipstream, bulb, zombie bank, sexting, funemployed, boondoggle, dill overkill, devil-dodger, yangban and 5 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abdominal, abetting, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
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What, another list?
ravishing, ravenous, pronk, brinksmanship, jaspe, mottle, chasm, testy, temperament, ponder, personally, phantom and 206 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for browbeat.

hernesheir US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906: Railroad telegraph shorthand for "No chance for business on this basis". Jan 20, 2013
treeseed Browbeat "to bully" is first recorded 1581, originally "to bear down with stern or arrogant looks."
_Online Etmology Dictionary Feb 28, 2008