Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To intimidate or subjugate by an overbearing manner or domineering speech; bully. synonym: intimidate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb be bossy towards
  • verb discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word browbeat.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Browbeat "to bully" is first recorded 1581, originally "to bear down with stern or arrogant looks."

    _Online Etmology Dictionary

    February 28, 2008

  • US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906: Railroad telegraph shorthand for "No chance for business on this basis".

    January 21, 2013