browbeat
See also: brow-beat
English
WOTD – 12 January 2008
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA(key): /ˈbɹaʊ.biːt/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
browbeat (third-person singular simple present browbeats, present participle browbeating, simple past browbeat, past participle browbeaten)
- (transitive) To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
- Synonyms: bully, cow, domineer, intimidate; see also Thesaurus:intimidate
- Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.
- 1993 November 28, Carol Muske, quoting Dudley Fitts, “Laura Riding Roughshod”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Dudley 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.”
Related terms
Translations
to bully in an intimidating way
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References
- “browbeat”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “browbeat”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
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