bribe
Americannoun
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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.
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anything given or serving to persuade or induce.
The children were given candy as a bribe to be good.
verb (used with object)
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to give or promise a bribe to.
They bribed the reporter to forget about what he had seen.
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to influence or corrupt by a bribe.
The judge was too honest to be bribed.
verb (used without object)
verb
noun
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a reward, such as money or favour, given or offered for this purpose
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any persuasion or lure
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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
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bribabilitynoun
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bribeabilitynoun
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bribeenoun
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bribernoun
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outbribeverb (used with object)
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bribableadjective
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bribeableadjective
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unbribableadjective
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unbribedadjective
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unbribingadjective
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unbribablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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bribesimple
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bribessimple
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have bribedperfect
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has bribedperfect
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am bribingprogressive
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are bribingprogressive
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is bribingprogressive
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have been bribingperfect progressive
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has been bribingperfect progressive
Past
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bribedsimple
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had bribedperfect
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was bribingprogressive
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were bribingprogressive
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had been bribingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing bribe
Maus I: My Father Bleeds History
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Bronx Masquerade
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The Devil's Arithmetic
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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.
See Examples For:
He told us he was contacted twice by text and offered a massive bribe - "enough money to retire on".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The guard demanded “a donation” as he inspected their belongings, which Saavedra viewed as a request for a bribe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Federal prosecutors plan to bring further charges against Rozier, alleging that he "solicited and accepted a bribe," The New York Times reported.
From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026
"I can state categorically that at no point did I ask for, take or receive a bribe of any sort from these persons and did not abuse my office," Alison-Madueke told the court.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
“He’s a greedy one. He’ll try to get a bribe out of them, if he can.”
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
But in October last year the Supreme Court quashed that argument, saying that any such cash likely stemmed from illegal bribes and therefore should not be counted.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Some Venezuelan volunteer rescue workers said police and military officers tried shaking them down for bribes to pass checkpoints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 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 survived the Holocaust because of the enormous risks Schindler took and the bribes and backroom deals he brokered to keep us, his Jewish workers, safe from the gas chambers of Auschwitz.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
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
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
Standing amid an array of workstations, a volunteer explained how his team identified sympathetic individuals to buy medicine and food from Damascus, and middlemen who bribed supplies past government checkpoints into Sweida.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 21, 2025
Jinjoo coaxed and bribed them all the way to mid-afternoon, when they reached another crossroads.
From "Finding Junie Kim" by Ellen Oh
Some members of Deutsche Telekom’s supervisory board became concerned the donation could expose the parent company to allegations of illegally bribing a foreign government, said people familiar with the matter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Next came Didius Julianus, a senatorial aristocrat who achieved the throne by bribing the guardsmen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
The leader of one of South Korea's largest cult-like churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country's former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace.
From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025
In 2016 the Brazilian construction giant admitted to bribing officials across Latin America and parts of Africa in order to obtain construction contracts.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
“Has the Resistance been bribing some Plebeian drudge to sneak you in?”
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
