bribe
/bɹaɪb/
bribe noun: something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.
Noun
bribe (plural bribes)
- Something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.
- Undue reward for anything against justice is a bribe.c. 1613-1625, Henry Hobart, Yardly v. Ellill
- The bribes I took did not influence me to become evil. I was evil from the beginning and the bribes were merely a bonus2024 June 17, @InternetHippo, Twitter, archived from the original on 29 Jun 2024
- The act of offering or paying such a payment: an act of bribery.
- That which seduces; seduction; allurement.
- Not the bribes of sordid wealth can seduce to leave these everblooming sweets.1744, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination
- Remy, this was a bribe! Our whole marriage has been nothing but a series of bribes!1974, George Fox, Mario Puzo, Earthquake
Verb
bribe (third-person singular simple present bribes, present participle bribing, simple past and past participle bribed)
- To give a bribe to; specifically, to ask a person to do something against their original will, in exchange for some type of reward or relief from potential trouble.
- She was accused of trying to bribe the jury into making false statements.
- October 23, 1848, Frederick William Robertson, an address delivered at the Opening of The Working Men's Institute
Neither is he worthy who bribes a man to vote against his conscience.
- To gain by a bribe; to induce as by a bribe.
- to bribe somebody's compliance
bribe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
bribe in Hindi
- inducement to a breaking of the rules
- रिश्वत riśvat, घूस ghūs
- to give a bribe
- घूस देना ghūs denā
bribe in Tamil
- inducement to a breaking of the rules
- லஞ்சம் lañcam
bribe in Marathi
- inducement to a breaking of the rules
- लाच lāc
bribe in Urdu
- inducement to a breaking of the rules
- رِشْوَت riśvat, گُھوس ghūs, یافْت yāft, پارَہ pāra
More languagesFewer languages
- bribe in Bengali
- ঘুষ ghuś
- bribe in Telugu
- లంచము lañcamu
- bribe in Malayalam
- കൈക്കൂലി kaikkūli, കോഴ kōḻa
- bribe in Kannada
- ಲಂಚ lañca
- bribe in Punjabi
- ਰਿਸ਼ਵਤ riśvat
- bribe in Gujarati
- લાંચ lā̃c, રુશ્વત ruśvat
- bribe in Odia
- ଲାଞ୍ଚ lāñca, ଘୁସ୍ ghus, ଲାଞ୍ଚ ଖୋଇବା Lān̄cha khoibā
- bribe in Sanskrit
- लञ्चा lañcā
- bribe in Sinhala
- අල්ලස් allas
- bribe in Assamese
- ঘোচ ghüs
- bribe in Nepali
- घूस ghūs
- bribe in Pashto
- بډې báḍe, رشوت rešwát
- bribe in Tagalog
- suhol, lagay, manuhol, maglagay
- bribe in Arabic
- رَشْوَة rašwa, رِشْوَة rišwa, رُشْوَة rušwa, بِرْطِيل birṭīl
- bribe in Malay
- rasuah, duit kopi
- bribe in Indonesian
- suap, sogokan, rasywah, menyuap
- bribe in Persian
- رشوه دادن rešve dâdan
- bribe in Thai
- สินบน sǐn-bon, ส่วย sùai
- bribe in Vietnamese
- hối lộ, đút lót, đút
- bribe in Myanmar
- လာဘ် labh, လာဘ်ပေး labhpe:
Examples of bribe in a sentence
- The tennis player was accused of taking bribes to throw the match.
- The more money the better, because there is always that dodgy politician or corrupt official to bribe.
- The ruthless businessman thought little of bribing or eliminating his competitors.
Synonyms of bribe
4 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of bribe
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bribes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | bribes |
| present participle | bribing |
| past participle | bribed |
| past | bribed |
Origin of bribe
From Middle English bribe, from Old French briber (“go begging”), from the noun bribe (“a gift”).
Words formed from bribe
Words that rhyme with bribe
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about bribe
- What does bribe mean?
- Bribe means something (usually money) given in exchange for influence or as an inducement to breaking the law.
- What is bribe in Hindi?
- Bribe in Hindi is रिश्वत (riśvat), घूस (ghūs), घूस देना (ghūs denā). See Bribe meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is bribe?
- Bribe can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce bribe?
- Bribe is pronounced /bɹaɪb/.
- What is the plural of bribe?
- The plural of bribe is bribes.
Words near bribe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bribe (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-bribe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bribe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bribe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.