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

Sure, it was a bit of a bribe, but it worked - the drop out rate went from 35% to 6%, according to the foundation's website.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

One Kano resident, who asked to be anonymous, said he had been asked to pay a bribe to get on the list.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

While serving as Adams’s chief of staff, Carone agreed to accept bribe payments from the Microtel hotel owner and business manager, the indictment alleges.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

That’s true but misleading, because they essentially bribe venues to use Ticketmaster.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026

“We should have tried to bribe them for more information,” Chubs said.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken

When law enforcement tries to trace bribes or tax evasion, criminals can easily hide among the hundreds of thousands of legal shell companies whose owners were only using them to lower their taxes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

For instance, former finance chief Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 for taking 1.8bn yuan in bribes over a 10-year period.

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

A McKinsey subsidiary reached a separate Justice Department settlement that same year to resolve allegations that it had paid bribes to officials at two South Africa state-owned companies to win consulting work.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

At first glance, neither player seemed to be vulnerable to bribes from gamblers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

We stayed the whole day in Salcedo, sitting in the park between masses, buying treats for the kids as bribes for the next hour-long mass.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

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

More recently, as China assailed Japan, text messages and photos that Taiwan officials said came from the Chinese military spread the claim that Takaichi had been bribed by Taiwanese diplomats.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

South Korea has arrested the leader of the controversial Unification Church over allegations the organisation bribed South Korea's former first lady in exchange for business and political favours.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2025

Five years later, Mr Gyalpo bribed Nepalese guards and slipped into Tibet to bring his family to India.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2025

He had obviously bribed Bogart with extra food and tobacco to drop his charges.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

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

Also on trial, oil industry executive Olatimbo Ayinde, 54, denies one count of bribery and another count of bribing a foreign public official.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026

Next came Didius Julianus, a senatorial aristocrat who achieved the throne by bribing the guardsmen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Polyneices won her over to his side by bribing her with the wonderful necklace that had been the wedding gift of his ancestress Harmonia, and she made her husband go to the war.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Related Words

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