henpecked

[hen-pekt]

adjective

1. browbeaten, bullied, or intimidated by one's wife, girlfriend, etc..

   a henpecked husband who never dared to contradict his wife.

henpecked

/ ˈhɛnˌpɛkd /

adjective

1. (of a man) continually harassed or tormented by the persistent nagging of a woman (esp his wife)

Other Word Forms

• henpecking noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of henpecked¹

First recorded in 1670–80; hen + peck ¹ + -ed ²

Example Sentences

He went on to star in the spin-off George and Mildred, in which Murphy played a henpecked George Roper opposite fellow Theatre Workshop actress Yootha Joyce as his wife.

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Spryly hilarious, Kelly lends the henpecked husband’s subversive streak a bumbling gentleness.

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I was raised by a sweet henpecked father, who would have said something disparaging about himself to get me to help him with his computer or read tiny print.

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Michael Burlingame, a professor of history at the University of Illinois Springfield, said that other than treating Lincoln as a “classic henpecked husband,” at face value there’s nothing funny about Mary Todd Lincoln.

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A henpecked husband looks to his talking dog for consolation.

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