Word.ws English Dictionary

henpecked

Syllables: hen·pecked/ˈhɛnpɛkt/

henpecked adjective: intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.

Adjective

henpecked (comparative more henpecked, superlative most henpecked)

  1. (particularly of husbands or boyfriends) Intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.
    • "I noticed that he addressed her as 'My dear,' very genially, without any trace of resentment.... The quickness of the transition made me vaguely ask myself whether he were henpecked,—a shocking conjecture, which I instantly dismissed."June-July 1884, Henry James, “The Author of Beltraffio”, in The English Illustrated Magazine
    Synonyms:
    pussywhipped, under the thumb, uxorious

henpecked meaning in Urdu, Malayalam, Tagalog and Persian

henpecked in Urdu

henpecked
زن مرید zan-murīd

henpecked in Malayalam

downtrodden, browbeaten, bullied
അച്ചിക്കോന്തനായ, പെൺകോന്തനായ, സ്ത്രീവിധേയ, ഭാര്യയുടെ ചൊല്‍പ്പടിക്കുനില്‍ക്കുന്ന, വിരണ്ട, ഭയപ്പെട്ട

henpecked in Tagalog

plagued or overwhelmed by one's wife
ander de saya

henpecked in Persian

plagued or overwhelmed by one's wife
زنذلیل zan-zalil

Synonyms of henpecked

Forms of henpecked

comparativemore henpecked
superlativemost henpecked

Origin of henpecked

From hen + pecked.

Words formed from henpecked

Questions about henpecked

What does henpecked mean?
Henpecked means intimidated or overwhelmed by a nagging or overbearing matriarch, wife, or girlfriend.
What is henpecked in Urdu?
Henpecked in Urdu is زن مرید (zan-murīd). See Henpecked meaning in Urdu.
What part of speech is henpecked?
Henpecked is an adjective.
How do you pronounce henpecked?
Henpecked is pronounced /ˈhɛnpɛkt/.

Words near henpecked in the dictionary

  1. henotheistically
  2. henotheists
  3. henotic
  4. Henotikon
  5. henpeck
  6. henpecked
  7. henpecker
  8. henpeckers
  9. henpeckery
  10. henpecking
  11. henpeckings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: henpecked (page history and authors); زن مرید (Urdu) (page history and authors); henpecked (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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-henpecked.ogg.

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