How to use bossy in a sentence

17 example sentences · adjective, noun

Bossy means tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering. Example: “Over in the wardrobe department a bossy woman in ill-fitting dungarees tried to talk her into wearing a short red low-cut dress for the test.”

Examples of bossy by meaning

adjectiveTending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.

Over in the wardrobe department a bossy woman in ill-fitting dungarees tried to talk her into wearing a short red low-cut dress for the test.1994, Jackie Collins, Hollywood Kids
Cuphead is a difficult gauntlet through a ton of bosses, from evil clowns to bossy queen bees.2017 October 2, Heather Alexandra, “Cuphead Player Beats Bosses Without Taking A Single Hit”, in Kotaku, archived from the original on 18...
Where American Jewish men contend with stereotypes of being oversexed, needy, nebbishy and neurotic (like Woody Allen, boo hiss), Jewish women are cast as withholding, bossy, exotic, and materialistic (like Fran Drescher, which honestly?2019 August 20, Fancy Feast, “On Being a Fetish”, in Jewish Currents, number Summer 2019, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2020

nounA cow or calf.

Without dismounting he had reached and slung the distressed bossy across his saddle, and dropped it at the ranch for the boys to attend to.1903 February, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Hygeia at the Solito”, in Everybody’s Magazine, volume VIII, number 2, New...

More sentences with bossy

The press (and plenty of others) call these women bossy, pushy, and opinionated, and the adjectives quickly get nastier from there.2016, Therese Huston, “The Decisiveness Dilemma”, in How Women Decide: What’s True, What’s Not, and What Strategies Spark the Best…. From the entry likability
This kind of smiling, bossy sanctimoniousness was a little too pervasive for Toby, especially among the female members of the sect.2009, Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood, Virago Press (2020), page 56. From the entry sanctimoniousness
And the secret to seeing—really seeing—was quieting the bossy know-it-all left brain so the mellower right brain could do its magic.2005, Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind, Riverhead Books, page 15. From the entry right brain
Polly couldn't abide Pat Walsh's bossy, jolly hockey-sticks manner and her curious predilection for calling absolutely everyone "babe."2003, Caroline Upcher, Falling for Mr. Wrong. From the entry jolly-hockey-sticks
"Herman has never been the same since he went bossies, anyway," said a girl with pale pink hair.1987, Andrew Donaldson, Forces' favourites, page 40. From the entry bossies
They were bossy even when they deared her.1985, Gertrude Story, The Need of Wanting Always, page 160. From the entry bosser
Youngers did not like olders to be mean and bossy.1964, Robert S. Fox, Ronald Lippitt, John E. Lohman, Teaching of Social Science Material in the Elementary School, page 3. From the entry younger
She was bossy and proud, a dreadful sag of skin and bones, and she was a devilish hard worker.1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 173. From the entry devilish
The bossy yet intimate style of her best food writing taught decades of home cooks to trust the strength of their convictions.2021 October 11, Rachel Syme, “Laurie Colwin’s Recipe for Being Yourself in the Kitchen”, in The New Yorker, New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast…. From the entry food writing
By the time of my third, five months ago, I was a right bossy cow about what I wanted because I knew the drill.2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian. From the entry induce
While Rabbit is described by Milne as being excessively “captainish” or bossy, he also receives warm praise, he has frequent visits from Pooh.2012, Daniel Eckstein, The Couple’S Match Book. From the entry excessively
She pulled off the paper and looked at what he'd bought her, what the horrid, arrogant, boot-burning, bossy pants had bought her.2006, Anne Grace, The Perfect Stranger, Berkley Sensation, →ISBN. From the entry bossy pants
Well, long ago, a man named Aesop met a whole bunch of bossy, silly, funny, annoying, dim-bulb people, and he wanted to do something about it.2007, Chris Jennings Dixon, editor, Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing, Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, →ISBN, page 2. From the entry dim-bulb

Meaning of bossy

adjective Tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.
noun A cow or calf.
adjective Ornamented with bosses; studded.

Full definition of bossy

Questions about bossy in a sentence

How do you use bossy in a sentence?: Bossy is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “Over in the wardrobe department a bossy woman in ill-fitting dungarees tried to talk her into wearing a short red low-cut dress for the test.”
What is a short sentence with bossy?: “They were bossy even when they deared her.”
What does bossy mean?: Bossy means tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.

Adapted from Wiktionary: bossy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use bossy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/bossy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.