Showing results for "intimidating"

• present participle of intimidate.

intimidating

American  

[in-tim-i-dey-ting] / ɪnˈtɪm ɪˌdeɪ tɪŋ /

adjective

1. Sometimes intimidatory intended to frighten someone or to force or stop someone’s action through fear.

   We will not be sucked in to your macho agenda by intimidating threats of violence or seductive promises of power.

2. causing timidity, hesitancy, or anxiety, especially because of difficulty or risk; daunting.

   The day-to-day operations of the healthcare environment can be overwhelming and intimidating to the point of paralysis.

3. causing someone to feel overawed or cowed, as through force of personality or superior display of wealth, talent, rank, etc..

   All the others had gone to Harvard or Yale, and I was just a country hick; it was intimidating, for sure.

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Other Word Forms

• unintimidating
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of intimidating

intimidat(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. )

Explanation

Someone or something that causes fear is intimidating. Bullies are intimidating. Anyone or anything that is fearsome, daunting, or terrifying could be called intimidating. Looking at a huge list of vocabulary words is intimidating. Any difficult job can be intimidating. Lots of people find public speaking intimidating. Climbing into the mouth of a volcano and trying to take a photograph for National Geographic would be extremely intimidating, because you could die, and if you don't, what if your pictures aren't that good?

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

intimidating

Some of these spaces can be intimidating for younger fans, and Laufey says this year was all about making these rooms, some of her favorites, inviting to her audience.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

“You can pick that up and make it into effective jargon fast because it’s related to the original idea. But it’s also not some weirdly intimidating word, right?”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Schwimmer said the completed mount does more than give museum visitors a sense of the animal's intimidating size.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

But his intimidating onyx armor obscures all that, much in the way Darth Vader’s helmet and cloak overcompensate for his shriveled form.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

Even without the fair he faced an intimidating portfolio of works in progress, chief among them the grounds of Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate in North Carolina.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• aggressive
• frightening
• terrifying