Synonyms

browbeat

American

[brou-beet] / ˈbraʊˌbit /

verb (used with object)

browbeat, browbeaten, browbeating

to intimidate by overbearing looks or words; bully.

They browbeat him into agreeing.

Synonyms:

coerce, harass, tyrannize, badger, cow

browbeat British

/ ˈbraʊˌbiːt /

verb

(tr) to discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate

"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

Other Word Forms

browbeater noun

Etymology

Origin of browbeat

First recorded in 1575–85; brow + beat

Explanation

To browbeat is to intimidate with language. Picture yourself in a police station. The cops are trying to get you to talk by using tough, even abusive, language. They are browbeating you. When someone browbeats you, they're giving you a beating with their mouth and their mind. If your parents have to browbeat you into cleaning your room, they nag you, yell at you and they may even make fun of you and your bad cleaning habits. While the word brow means forehead, think that they're using their head, or brow, to beat you down. It's a figurative, rather than a literal, beating.

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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.

But when things started to get "really crazy", she browbeat her parents into coming with her.

From BBC • Feb. 15, 2025

I was in no position to browbeat her for it.

From Slate • Sep. 18, 2024

“Attorney General Garland is my constituent, and I don’t browbeat my constituents,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

From Washington Times • Jun. 12, 2022

"We've got to stop the coercion. We've got to stop trying to browbeat people."

From Salon • Nov. 15, 2021

I took Master Hemme’s hair from the student and recognized him as Basil, the boy Hemme had browbeat yesterday.

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023