intimidate
/ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/ verb
Forms intimidates intimidating intimidated
- verb (transitive) 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.”
Synonyms
abash buffalo bulldoze bully browbeat cow dastardize daunt dishearten do down domineer drive hector menace strong-arm restrain
Etymology
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.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To make timid or fearful; to inspire of affect with fear; to deter, as by threats; to dishearten; to abash.
Etymology [LL. intimidatus, p. p. of intimidare to frighten; pref. in- in + timidus fearful, timid: cf. F. intimider. See Timid.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “intimidate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details