- 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.
Get out of your hiring comfort zone: Hiring a person 20 years your senior can be intimidating as a young founder.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
“I remember filming that scene and trying to be intimidating to Hannah Waddingham,” Reynolds says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Schwimmer said the completed mount does more than give museum visitors a sense of the animal's intimidating size.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
But his intimidating onyx armor obscures all that, much in the way Darth Vader’s helmet and cloak overcompensate for his shriveled form.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
They also all moved with the same intimidating swagger.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
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.
