Adjacent Words

Intimidate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INTIM'IDATE, v.t. [L. timidus, fearful; timeo, to fear.]
To make fearful; to inspire with fear; to dishearten; to abash.
Now guilt once harbor'd in the conscious breast,
Intimidates the brave, degrades the great.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make timid or fearful; "Her boss intimidates her"
2: to compel or deter by or as if by threats [syn: intimidate, restrain]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (-dated; -dating) Etymology: Medieval Latin intimidatus, past participle of intimidare, from Latin in- + timidus timid Date: 1646 to make timid or fearful ; frighten; especially to compel or deter by or as if by threats <tried to intimidate a witness> • intimidatingly adverb • intimidation noun • intimidator noun Synonyms: intimidate, cow, bulldoze, bully, browbeat mean to frighten into submission. intimidate implies inducing fear or a sense of inferiority into another <intimidated by so many other bright freshmen>. cow implies reduction to a state where the spirit is broken or all courage is lost <not at all cowed by the odds against making it in show business>. bulldoze implies an intimidating or an overcoming of resistance usually by urgings, demands, or threats <bulldozed the city council into approving the plan>. bully implies intimidation through threats, insults, or aggressive behavior <bullied into giving up their lunch money>. browbeat implies a cowing through arrogant, scornful, or contemptuous treatment <browbeat the witness into a contradiction>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. frighten or overawe, esp. to subdue or influence. Derivatives: intimidation n. intimidator n. Etymology: med.L intimidare (as IN-(2), timidare f. timidus TIMID)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Intimidate In*tim"i*date, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Intimidated; p. pr. & vb. n. Intimidating.] [LL. intimidatus, p. p. of intimidare to frighten; pref. in- in + timidus fearful, timid: cf. F. intimider. See Timid.] To make timid or fearful; to inspire of affect with fear; to deter, as by threats; to dishearten; to abash. Now guilt, once harbored in the conscious breast, Intimidates the brave, degrades the great. --Johnson. Syn: To dishearten; dispirit; abash; deter; frighten; terrify; daunt; cow.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(intimidates, intimidating, intimidated) If you intimidate someone, you deliberately make them frightened enough to do what you want them to do. Jones had set out to intimidate and dominate Paul... Attempts to intimidate people into voting for the governing party did not work. VERB: V n, V n into -ing • intimidation ...an inquiry into allegations of intimidation during last week's vote.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Frighten, affright, alarm, scare, daunt, dismay, terrify, appall, put in fear, fright (poetical).

Moby Thesaurus

abash, admonish, alarm, awe, badger, bait, be imminent, beat down, blackjack, bludgeon, bluff, bluster, bluster and bluff, bluster out of, bounce, brag, break, browbeat, bulldoze, bully, bullyrag, castrate, caution, chivy, clamp down on, coerce, comminate, compel, constrain, cow, cry out against, daunt, demoralize, denounce, despotize, dismay, disquiet, dissuade, domineer, domineer over, dragoon, enslave, expostulate, force, forebode, frighten, frighten off, gasconade, grind, grind down, harass, hector, henpeck, hijack, hound, huff, keep down, keep under, kid out of, look threatening, lord it over, lower, menace, oblige, oppress, out-herod Herod, overawe, overbear, overmaster, override, petrify, press heavy on, rage, rant, rave, remonstrate, repress, ride, ride over, ride roughshod over, roister, rollick, ruffle, scare, shanghai, slang, splutter, sputter, steamroller, storm, strong-arm, subjugate, suppress, swagger, swashbuckle, systematically terrorize, talk out of, terrify, terrorize, threaten, trample down, trample upon, tread down, tread upon, tyrannize, tyrannize over, unman, unpersuade, use violence, utter threats against, vapor, walk all over, walk over, warn, weigh heavy on