- present participle of intimidate.
intimidating
Americanadjective
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Sometimes intimidatory intended to frighten someone or to force or stop someone’s action through fear.
We will not be sucked in to your macho agenda by intimidating threats of violence or seductive promises of power.
-
causing timidity, hesitancy, or anxiety, especially because of difficulty or risk; daunting.
The day-to-day operations of the healthcare environment can be overwhelming and intimidating to the point of paralysis.
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causing someone to feel overawed or cowed, as through force of personality or superior display of wealth, talent, rank, etc..
All the others had gone to Harvard or Yale, and I was just a country hick; it was intimidating, for sure.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of intimidating
Explanation
Someone or something that causes fear is intimidating. Bullies are intimidating. Anyone or anything that is fearsome, daunting, or terrifying could be called intimidating. Looking at a huge list of vocabulary words is intimidating. Any difficult job can be intimidating. Lots of people find public speaking intimidating. Climbing into the mouth of a volcano and trying to take a photograph for National Geographic would be extremely intimidating, because you could die, and if you don't, what if your pictures aren't that good?
Vocabulary lists containing intimidating
A Separate Peace
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Divergent
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Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Intimidating and brilliant, his Julian Sklar is by turns amusingly viperish and not quite successful at concealing the softness of age.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Intimidating and effective, but not enough, eventually, to stem the Russian tide.
From BBC • May 17, 2022
Intimidating at 6-foot-7 and 280 pounds, Pineda struck out five of the first nine Cleveland hitters, including three in the third on 11 pitches.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 31, 2019
Intimidating the men intending to intimidate him, with open chest, swinging bat and maroon cap, he played with a cold, controlled fury, each innings righting a social wrong.
From The Guardian • Mar. 1, 2013
That’s what value-added is doing: Intimidating teachers, and many of them believe that it will be the end of the teaching profession.
From Washington Post • Sep. 12, 2012
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
