browbeat

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈbraʊbit/ UK /ˈbraʊbiːt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to intimidate or bully someone with stern or overbearing words

The lawyer tried to browbeat the witness into changing her story.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to intimidate or bully... intimidate bully cow badger hector domineer coerce

Opposites

encourage coax support persuade

Word family

Derived forms browbeatenbrowbeating

Related forms brow beat

Etymology

A compound of brow + beat, originally meaning 'to bear down with stern looks'; from Old English brū ('brow') + bēatan ('to beat').

brū Old English bēatan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# browbeat

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈbraʊbit/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈbraʊbiːt/

## Meanings
1. to intimidate or bully someone with stern or overbearing words

## Examples
- The lawyer tried to browbeat the witness into changing her story.

## Synonyms
- intimidate
- bully
- cow
- badger
- hector
- domineer
- coerce

## Antonyms
- encourage
- coax
- support
- persuade

## Derived Forms
- browbeaten
- browbeating

## Related Forms
- brow
- beat

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: brū
- Root: bēatan

## Etymology
A compound of brow + beat, originally meaning 'to bear down with stern looks'; from Old English brū ('brow') + bēatan ('to beat').

## AI Etymology
Browbeat is a compound of brow + beat, originally meaning 'to bear down with stern looks'; from Old English brū ('brow') + bēatan ('to beat'). The historical trail runs through brū in Old English and bēatan in Old English. Morphologically, browbeat is transparent: it is a compound of brow + beat, originally meaning 'to bear down with stern looks'. Used as a verb, browbeat now means "intimidate or bully someone with stern or overbearing words", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as browbeaten and browbeating and related forms such as brow and beat. The modern word remains analyzable through its parts, which makes the semantic connection unusually direct.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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