Word.ws English Dictionary

brandish

/ˈbɹændɪʃ/

brandish verb: to move or swing a weapon back and forth, particularly if demonstrating anger, threat or skill.

Verb

brandish (third-person singular simple present brandishes, present participle brandishing, simple past and past participle brandished)

  1. (transitive) To move or swing a weapon back and forth, particularly if demonstrating anger, threat or skill.
    • He brandished his sword at the pirates.
    • Hvng be yͤ heauens vvith black, yield day to night; / Comets importing change of Times and States, / Brandiſh your cryſtall Treſſes in the Skie, / And vvith them ſcourge the bad reuolting Stars, / That haue conſented vnto Henries Death: / King Henry the Fift, too famous to liue long, / England...1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (transitive) To bear something with ostentatious show.
    • to brandish syllogisms
    • Long, however, the young ſpark did not remain, before, giving it [his penis] two or three ſhakes, by way of brandiſhing it, he threw himſelf upon her, […]1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 66

Noun

brandish (plural brandishes)

  1. The act of flourishing or waving.

brandish meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu

brandish in Tamil

to brandish, wave; wag
சுழற்று cuḻaṟṟu

brandish in Urdu

ہتھیار لہرانا

brandish in Bengali

প্রদর্শন করা

brandish in Telugu

to brandish, wave
ఝళిపించు jhaḷipiñcu
to brandish, whisk, flourish
విసురు visuru
to brandish, wield, whirl, twirl
త్రిప్పు trippu, తిప్పు tippu
More languagesFewer languages
brandish in Malayalam
വീശുക
brandish in Kannada
ಆಡಿಸು
brandish in Punjabi
ਉੱਗਰਨਾ uggarnā
brandish in Odia
ଚାଳିବା cāḷibā

Examples of brandish in a sentence

  • the quivering lance which he brandished bright1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:
  • It sets the stage for cutting corners in our principles just so we can brandish a perceived badge of stature.2011, Jejomar C. Binay, Binay: Blame corruption on modern consumerism, Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation...

All 28 example sentences with brandish

Synonyms of brandish

Forms of brandish

Verb
third-person singular presentbrandishes
present participlebrandishing
past participlebrandished
pastbrandished
Noun
pluralbrandishes

Past tense of brandish: brandished

Origin of brandish

From Middle English braundischen, from Old French brandiss-, stem of brandir (“to flourish a sword”), from Frankish *brandijan, from Frankish *brand (“firebrand; sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“fire; flame; sword”), whence Old English brand (“firebrand; torch”); equivalent to brand + -ish. More at brand.

Words formed from brandish

Words that rhyme with brandish

Questions about brandish

What does brandish mean?
Brandish means to move or swing a weapon back and forth, particularly if demonstrating anger, threat or skill.
What is brandish in Tamil?
Brandish in Tamil is சுழற்று (cuḻaṟṟu). See Brandish meaning in Tamil.
How do you use brandish in a sentence?
the quivering lance which he brandished bright
What part of speech is brandish?
Brandish can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce brandish?
Brandish is pronounced /ˈbɹændɪʃ/.
What is the past tense of brandish?
The past tense of brandish is brandished.

Words near brandish in the dictionary

  1. brandiron
  2. brandirons
  3. brandis
  4. brandise
  5. brandises
  6. brandish
  7. brandished
  8. brandisher
  9. brandishers
  10. brandishes
  11. brandishest

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: brandish (page history and authors); சுழற்று (Tamil) (page history and authors); brandish (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Brandish (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఝళిపించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); brandish (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); brandish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਉੱਗਰਨਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); ଚାଳିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-brandish.ogg, en-au-brandish.ogg.

Cite this entry: “brandish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/brandish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.