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

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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

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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

Kao told the FBI that the money was a bribe in exchange for the senator’s support for more Navatek funding.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

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

From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026

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

By the same token, medicine was free, but God help you if you didn’t bribe the doctors, while hospital nurses receiving no “gift” might let sick patients suffer in their excrement-soiled sheets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

Councilman Grandy indignantly denied that the money was a bribe from the pancake people; then he rushed out and hired the most expensive defense lawyer in Fort Myers.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Officials later found that dozens of provincial officials and hospital staff attempted to cover up the incident by tampering with blood tests and accepting bribes from a nursery investor.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Washington said Fijian national Zhao used his public position to pay bribes aimed at advancing Chinese government, business and criminal interests.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 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

The American candy worked extremely well as bribes to keep the little boys going.

From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh

Here, Matt’s friends are bribed into blabbing about his past sins, although the script doesn’t bother to tell us what exactly he’s alleged to have done or whether it’s true.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

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

He also told investigators that the allegation that he had "bribed" Alison-Madueke was "completely untrue".

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 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

Mama has bribed all lands of ointments in and none seem to work.

From "Purple Hibiscus" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Even without bribing the bots to provide direct advertising, brands are already trying to find ways to get into the good books of AI search results.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2026

“Has the Resistance been bribing some Plebeian drudge to sneak you in?”

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

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