intimidate
Syllables: in·tim·i·date/ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ɪnˈtɪmɪdɛjt/
intimidate verb: to make timid or afraid; to cause to feel fear or nervousness; to deter, especially by threats of violence.
Verb
intimidate (third-person singular simple present intimidates, present participle intimidating, simple past and past participle intimidated)
- To make timid or afraid; to cause to feel fear or nervousness; to deter, especially by threats of violence.
- He's trying to intimidate you. If you ignore him, hopefully he'll stop.
- His father tried to intimidate his son into staying, threatening him with banishment and a possible beating.2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 168
- Synonyms:
- abash, buffalo, bulldoze, bully, browbeat, cow, dastardize, daunt, dishearten, do down
intimidate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
intimidate in Hindi
- to make timid or fearful
- धमकाना dhamkānā
intimidate in Tamil
- அச்சுறுத்து, மிரட்டு
intimidate in Urdu
- to make timid or fearful
- دھمکانا dhamkānā
intimidate in Bengali
- ভয় দেখানো, আতঙ্কিত করা, ধমকানো
More languagesFewer languages
- intimidate in Telugu
- బెదిరించు bediriñcu, భయపెట్టు bhayapeṭṭu
- intimidate in Malayalam
- പേടിപ്പിക്കുക, ഭീഷണിപ്പെടുത്തുക, അധൈര്യപ്പെടുത്തുക, ഭയപ്പെടുത്തുക
- intimidate in Kannada
- ಹೆದರಿಸು, ಬೆದರಿಸು, ಭಯಹುಟ್ಟಿಸು
- intimidate in Arabic
- أَخَافَ ʔaḵāfa, أَرْعَبَ ʔarʕaba, خَوَّفَ ḵawwafa, أَرْهَبَ ʔarhaba
- intimidate in Thai
- ขู่ kùu, ข่มขู่ kòm-kùu
- intimidate in Vietnamese
- dọa nạt, hăm dọa, trộ
Examples of intimidate in a sentence
- They swaggered around in their Smokey Bears, as if a felt hat would intimidate a short-fused grenade.
- Feared by the workers, the capangas intimidate laborers and driver off small farmers with bulldozers.
- In many circumstances, religion has been used to bully and intimidate women and deprive them of power.
Synonyms of intimidate
5 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of intimidate
| third-person singular present | intimidates |
|---|---|
| present participle | intimidating |
| past participle | intimidated |
| past | intimidated |
Origin of intimidate
From Medieval Latin intimidātus, perfect passive participle of Latin intimidō (“to intimidate, terrify”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + timidus (“afraid, timid”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see timid.
Words formed from intimidate
Questions about intimidate
- What does intimidate mean?
- Intimidate means to make timid or afraid; to cause to feel fear or nervousness; to deter, especially by threats of violence.
- What is intimidate in Hindi?
- Intimidate in Hindi is धमकाना (dhamkānā). See Intimidate meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is intimidate?
- Intimidate is a verb.
- How do you pronounce intimidate?
- Intimidate is pronounced /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of intimidate?
- The past tense of intimidate is intimidated.
Words near intimidate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: intimidate (page history and authors); intimidate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Intimidate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intimidate (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); intimidate (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-intimidate.wav.
Cite this entry: “intimidate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/intimidate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.