hectoring
hectoring adjective: that hectors; intimidating or domineering. Also the present participle and gerund of hector.
Adjective
hectoring (comparative more hectoring, superlative most hectoring)
- That hectors; intimidating or domineering.
- The types that started using “-maxxing” in earnest often did so with such hectoring self-seriousness that it was impossible not to parody.2025 October 11, Nitsuh Abebe, “The Suffix That Tells Us to Ruthlessly Optimize Everything”, in The New York Times Magazine, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from...
Noun
hectoring (plural hectorings)
- The act of one who hectors, or acts blusteringly.
- their hectorings against an absent enemy, and their pusillanimity on his approach1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), New...
Also used as
hectoring is also the present participle and gerund of hector.
Forms of hectoring
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more hectoring |
| superlative | most hectoring |
| Noun | |
| plural | hectorings |
Origin of hectoring
From hector + -ing.
Words formed from hectoring
Questions about hectoring
- What does hectoring mean?
- Hectoring means that hectors; intimidating or domineering.
- What part of speech is hectoring?
- Hectoring can be an adjective or a noun.
Words near hectoring in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hectoring (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-hectoring.oga.
Cite this entry: “hectoring.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hectoring. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.