bribe

American  

[brahyb] / braɪb /

noun

• bribes
  plural

1. 

   money or any other valuable consideration given or promised with a view to corrupting the behavior of a person, especially in that person's performance as an athlete, public official, etc..

   The motorist offered the arresting officer a bribe to let him go.

2. anything given or serving to persuade or induce.

   The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.

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verb (used with object)

• bribes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bribed,
  past participle,  past
• bribing
  present participle

1. to give or promise a bribe to.

   They bribed the reporter to forget about what he had seen.

2. to influence or corrupt by a bribe.

   The judge was too honest to be bribed.

verb (used without object)

• bribes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bribed,
  past participle,  past
• bribing
  present participle

1. to give a bribe; practice bribery.

bribe British  

/ braɪb /

verb

1. to promise, offer, or give something, usually money, to (a person) to procure services or gain influence, esp illegally

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noun

1. a reward, such as money or favour, given or offered for this purpose

2. any persuasion or lure

3. a length of flawed or damaged cloth removed from the main piece

Usage

What does bribe mean? A bribe is money or something else of value offered or given to someone to get them to do something you want them to do, especially something they’re not supposed to do. Bribe can also be used as a verb meaning to offer or give someone a bribe. The act of doing so is called bribery. In most cases, this refers to the often illegal act of offering money to people in official positions, like politicians, government officials, or sports referees, in order to get them to change an outcome to be more favorable to the person offering the bribe. For example, a businessperson might bribe a senator to vote a certain way, which is of course illegal. Bribe can also refer to offering an incentive (or the incentive itself) to someone to do something, especially a child, as in I tried bribing the kids with TV time as a reward for cleaning up their room, but apparently even bribes don’t work because they didn’t do it. Example: The video clearly shows the lobbyist presenting the senator a briefcase full of money as a bribe for a favorable vote—it’s an open-and-shut case of bribery.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bribability
  noun
• bribeability
  noun
• bribee
  noun
• briber
  noun
• outbribe
  verb (used with object)
• bribable
  adjective
• bribeable
  adjective
• unbribable
  adjective
• unbribed
  adjective
• unbribing
  adjective
• unbribably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• bribes
  plural

Participles

• bribing
  present
• bribed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bribe
  simple
• bribes
  simple
• have bribed
  perfect
• has bribed
  perfect
• am bribing
  progressive
• are bribing
  progressive
• is bribing
  progressive
• have been bribing
  perfect progressive
• has been bribing
  perfect progressive

Past

• bribed
  simple
• had bribed
  perfect
• was bribing
  progressive
• were bribing
  progressive
• had been bribing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bribe
  simple
• will have bribed
  perfect
• will be bribing
  progressive
• will have been bribing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bribe

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French: remnant of food given as alms, said to be < an expressive base *bri ( m ) b- denoting something small

Explanation

You pay a bribe to get someone to do something they wouldn't do otherwise. It's usually dishonest and often criminal. Bribes can be utterly corrupt and illegal — like when you offer a bribe to a politician so she'll make a decision in your favor. On the other hand, a bribe can be somewhat benign — like when your mom bribes you with an ice cream if you play with your little brother. When you bribe someone, you can say you're "greasing their palm."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bribe bribes bribed bribing

“And that is not a bribe because I have no intention of following through on that promise.”

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

And it has a good following already, with Purcell joking it is nice not having to bribe his friends and family to listen along.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The guard demanded “a donation” as he inspected their belongings, which Saavedra viewed as a request for a bribe.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

According to the indictment, Rozier agreed to reduce the alleged bribe to $70,000 to cover those losses.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026

My hard-won bribe has finally done its work.

From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron

But many are also accused of delays, bribes and making people run from pillar to post.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

Kao told the FBI that the lawmakers, lobbyists and Navatek brass understood these donations were bribes and that the payments were essential to the entire scheme.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

“Southern Glazer’s employees tried to distort the wine and spirits market in California through bribes and other improper conduct and in the end it was the consumer that lost out,” U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

In one recent example, the office of Ukraine’s general prosecutor said in May that police departments in three separate regions had each been receiving over $20,000 a month in bribes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

We survived the Holocaust because of the enormous risks Schindler took and the bribes and backroom deals he brokered to keep us, his Jewish workers, safe from the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson

So their father taught them in short spurts — 20 minutes maximum, he says — and bribed them with pizza and Capri-Suns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The country’s largest wine and spirits distributor has entered into an agreement with federal prosecutors to resolve allegations that its executives and employees bribed alcohol retailers for favorable placement of certain products.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Is it true, they ask, that Jefferson bribed Trumbull to make it look that way, to show that he, Jefferson, outranked Adams?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026

Kulibayev's lawyers told the BBC that he denied being bribed, had no involvement in awarding the contracts and has not been the subject of any investigation in Italy.

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2026

Jinjoo coaxed and bribed them all the way to mid-afternoon, when they reached another crossroads.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

The brothers were nearly sidelined after a corruption scandal in Brazil almost a decade ago, in which they admitted to bribing politicians and spent several months in jail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

A South Korean court sentenced the leader of the secretive and powerful Unification Church on Monday to two years in prison on charges of bribing officials, including the then president's wife.

From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026

The leader of the controversial Unification Church has been sentenced to two years in prison for bribing South Korea's former first lady and other political funding offences.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

Some members of Deutsche Telekom’s supervisory board became concerned the donation could expose the parent company to allegations of illegally bribing a foreign government, said people familiar with the matter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

Major Christian Piercy had fled Philadelphia after his son and an apprentice caught the fever, bribing a stagecoach driver to take him and his family to south Jersey.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

Related Words

• blackmail
• compensation
• gift
• graft
• gratuity
• hush money
• incentive
• inducement
• kickback
• perk
• reward