Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use bully in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb, adjective

Bully means a person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege. Example: “A playground bully pushed a girl off the swing.”

Examples of bully by meaning

nounA person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as...

  • A playground bully pushed a girl off the swing.
  • I noticed you being a bully towards people with disabilities.

nounA noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.

  • And I think the facts are that Beijing is a belligerent bully jealous and envious of what Taiwan has accomplished- mainland China- that's what I get out of all of this.1999 August 5, Jesse Helms, quotee, 1:27 from the start, in USA: CHINA/TAIWAN TENSIONS MOUNTING, Associated Press, archived from the...

verbTo intimidate (someone) as a bully.

  • You shouldn't bully people for being weak.
  • I won't have you bullying us out my own house.
  • Bradly's stomach kinked in on itself, thinking of Cora struck silly with that corpse on her hands and the copper bullying the truth out of her.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 218

verbTo act aggressively towards.

  • The Potters know their strengths and played to them perfectly here, out-muscling Bolton in midfield and bullying the visitors' back-line at every opportunity.2011 January 15, Sam Sheringham, “Chelsea 2 -03 Blackburn Rovers”, in BBC

adjectiveVery good.

  • a bully horse
  • What a bully chum she would have been!1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Through the Valley of the Shadow”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt...
  • She is a bully woman, not only a good mother, but a wonderful in-law1916, The Independent, volumes 35-36, page 6

interjectionWell done; often sarcastic in modern use.

  • Bully, she's finally asked for that promotion!

More sentences with bully

  • He loves being a prankster and is often seen pulling off several pranks on his bullies.From the entry prankster
  • You really need to stick up for yourself against that bully.From the entry stick up for
  • She refused to grovel in front of the bully, standing her ground.From the entry grovel
  • I don't recommend taking on that bully, since he's bigger than you are.From the entry take on
  • The bullies pushed the boy over and gave him a kicking.From the entry kicking
  • The teacher accused the bullies of barbarianism when she caught them taunting the girl in a wheelchair.From the entry barbarianism
  • The bully hadn't been expecting his victim to fight back, and now the bully has quadriplegia.From the entry fight back
  • The bullies were lying about her alleged horsiness, calling her a "horseface".From the entry horsiness
  • "Well, well, if it isn't the new kid," said the bully.From the entry if it isn't
  • I built a wall between myself and the bullies.From the entry wall
  • The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.From the entry small
  • He picked a fight with the class bully.From the entry with
  • She really gave that bully some stick.From the entry stick
  • He roasted a bully who then fought with him.From the entry roast
  • You are vulnerable to be bullied by someone at school.From the entry vulnerable
  • The bully tried to humiliate the other students during lunch.From the entry humiliate
  • He got in a scrape with the school bully.From the entry scrape
  • He received a thumping from the school bully.From the entry thumping
  • The bully backed down before his steely gaze.From the entry steely
  • School bullies always take cheap shots at kids with glasses.From the entry cheap shot
  • I don't know if I'll ever see the day when that bully will apologize for all the times he wronged me.From the entry see the day
  • The children resoundingly defeated the bully.From the entry resoundingly
  • Biden has used both his presidential power and his bully pulpit.2025 January 16, Linda Feldmann, “Joe Biden served just one term. What will his legacy be?”, in The Christian Science Monitor. From the entry bully pulpit
  • He is a cheat and bully on the global stage in fundamental violation of the facts.2022, “September 25, 2022”, in Mainland Affairs Council, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2023, Chronology. From the entry authoritarian
  • This isn't an act of love; he's basically getting Shawshanked by a long-necked bully.2022, Mamadou Ndiaye, 100 Animals That Can F*cking End You, page 107. From the entry Shawshank
  • Cornelius was the only one dressed in muscle but collectively they were a bully supernova.2019 December, Justin Blackburn, The Bisexual Christian Suburban Failure Enlightening Bipolar Blues, page 59. From the entry supernova
  • The bully girl with a crystal optic and tin horn was at the jollification.2017 May 1, Peter Jensen Brown, quoting Leavenworth Weekly Times, July 21, 1870, “Bazoo, Kazoo, Bazooka”, in Early Sports and Pop Culture…. From the entry bazoo
  • I’d always heard about other people getting bullied in zero-hours jobs.2017 March 27, Martin Williams, quoting Josh, “The bullying and fear at the heart of zero-hour contracts”, in The Guardian. From the entry zero-hours
  • “I never got bullied the same as other kids—my house never got egged.2016, Brian King, The Laughing Cure, Skyhorse Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry cupcake

Meaning of bully

  1. noun A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege.
  2. noun A noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.
  3. noun A hired thug.

Full definition of bully

Questions about bully in a sentence

How do you use bully in a sentence?
Bully is used as a noun, verb and adjective. For example: “A playground bully pushed a girl off the swing.”
What is a short sentence with bully?
“a bully horse”
What does bully mean?
Bully means a person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bully (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.

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