intimidate

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin intimidatus, past participle of intimidare (“to make afraid”), from Latin in (“in”) + timidus (“afraid, timid”); see timid.

Verb

intimidate (third-person singular simple present intimidates, present participle intimidating, simple past and past participle intimidated)

1. (transitive) To make timid or fearful; to inspire or affect with fear; to deter, as by threats; to dishearten; to abash.

   He's trying to intimidate you. If you ignore him, hopefully he'll stop.

2. (transitive) To impress, amaze, excite or induce extraordinary affection in others toward oneself.

Synonyms

• dishearten
• abash

Related terms

• intimidatingly
• intimidation
• intimidator
• timid

Translations

to make timid or fearful

Catalan: intimidar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 威脅 (zh), 威胁 (zh) (wēixié), 恐嚇 (zh), 恐吓 (zh) (kǒnghè) Czech: zastrašovat (cs) Dutch: intimideren (nl) Finnish: pelotella (fi) French: intimider (fr) German: einschüchtern (de)

Japanese: 脅す (ja) (おどす, odosu) Russian: пугать (ru) (pugát') impf., испугать (ru) (ispugát') pf.; запугивать (ru) (zapúgivat') impf., запугать (ru) (zapugát') pf.; устрашать (ru) (ustrašát') impf., устрашить (ru) (ustrašit') pf. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: за̀страшити (sh) Roman: zàstrašiti (sh) Telugu: బెదిరించు (bedirinchu), భయపెట్టు (bhayapeTTu)

to impress, amaze, excite

Dutch: imponeren Finnish: ällistyttää, vetää hiljaiseksi (to make quiet due to awe)

French: impressioner German: beeindrucken (de)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: intimidar

References

• intimidate in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• intimidate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913