bribe
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.
anything given or serving to persuade or induce: The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.
to give or promise a bribe to: They bribed the reporter to forget about what he had seen.
to influence or corrupt by a bribe: The judge was too honest to be bribed.
Origin of bribe
1Other words from bribe
- brib·a·ble, bribe·a·ble, adjective
- brib·a·bil·i·ty, bribe·a·bil·i·ty, noun
- brib·ee, noun
- briber, noun
- outbribe, verb (used with object), out·bribed, out·brib·ing.
- un·brib·a·ble, adjective
- un·brib·a·bly, adverb
- un·bribed, adjective
- un·brib·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use bribe in a sentence
Yin, the Sinovac founder, testified in Yin Hongzhang’s trial, admitting to paying over $83,000 in bribes to Yin Hongzhang to license Sinovac’s vaccines.
A drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine is 78% effective—but can it escape its spotty corporate history? | Grady McGregor | January 8, 2021 | FortuneAsserting his innocence, Tilden claimed that he knew nothing about the proposed bribes, but admitted that when he found out about the activity of his agents he immediately ordered them to stop.
Ted Cruz’s proposed election commission can only hurt the country | Stuart MacKay | January 6, 2021 | Washington PostProsecutors allege the bribes were meant to secure government backing for Lee’s attempt to inherit control of Samsung from his father Lee Kun-hee, then its chairman.
Samsung vice chairman Jay Y. Lee faces nine-year sentence in bribery case | Catherine Shu | December 31, 2020 | TechCrunchChina previously punished only the party that accepted the bribes, he said, but this changed in 2014 with a case involving GlaxoSmithKline.
As China nears a coronavirus vaccine, bribery cloud hangs over drugmaker Sinovac | Eva Dou | December 4, 2020 | Washington PostHe has been offered bribes innumerable; but in each and every instance the would-be briber has learned a very unpleasant lesson.
Twenty Years a Detective in the Wickedest City in the World | Clifton R. Wooldridge
Whilst almost every coal-ticket has been used, I am denounced right and left in unmeasured terms as an unscrupulous briber.
The would-be briber thrust the book back into his pocket and sprang to his feet, purple with anger.
The Young Railroaders | Francis Lovell CoombsAndré was a spy and briber, who sought to ruin the American cause by means of the treachery of an American general.
George Washington, Vol. I | Henry Cabot LodgeBriber and grafter are now 'good men,' and would have passed for virtuous in the American community of seventy years ago.
Teaching the Child Patriotism | Kate Upson Clarke
British Dictionary definitions for bribe
/ (braɪb) /
to promise, offer, or give something, usually money, to (a person) to procure services or gain influence, esp illegally
a reward, such as money or favour, given or offered for this purpose
any persuasion or lure
a length of flawed or damaged cloth removed from the main piece
Origin of bribe
1Derived forms of bribe
- bribable or bribeable, adjective
- briber, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Browse