intimidate

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Verb

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

(transitive) To make timid or afraid; to cause to feel fear or nervousness; to deter, especially by threats of violence
- 2018, Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death, HarperVoyager, page 168:
  His father tried to intimidate his son into staying, threatening him with banishment and a possible beating.
He's trying to intimidate you. If you ignore him, hopefully he'll stop.
Synonym: abash

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:intimidate

Related terms

intimidatingly
intimidation
intimidator
intimidatory
timid

Translations

to make timid or fearful

Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: أَخَافَ‎ (ʾaḵāfa), أَرْعَبَ‎ (ʾarʿaba), خَوَّفَ‎ (ar) (ḵawwafa), أَرْهَبَ‎ (ʾarhaba)
Armenian: վախեցնել (hy) (vaxecʿnel)
Azerbaijani: qorxutmaq (az), qorxuzmaq, xoflandırmaq, qorxuya salmaq, vəhmələndirmək
Belarusian: пало́хаць impf (palóxacʹ), запало́хваць impf (zapalóxvacʹ), спало́хаць pf (spalóxacʹ), застра́шваць impf (zastrášvacʹ), застрашы́ць pf (zastrašýcʹ), пужа́ць impf (pužácʹ), спужа́ць pf (spužácʹ)
Bulgarian: пла́ша (bg) impf (pláša), спла́швам (bg) impf (splášvam), спла́ша pf (spláša), изпла́швам (bg) impf (izplášvam), изпла́ша pf (izpláša)
Catalan: intimidar (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 威脅／威胁 (zh) (wēixié), 恐嚇／恐吓 (zh) (kǒnghè)
Czech: zastrašovat impf, zastrašit pf
Danish: skræmme (da)
Dutch: intimideren (nl), inschuchteren
Esperanto: timigi
Estonian: hirmutama, heidutama
Finnish: pelotella (fi), uhkailla (fi)
French: intimider (fr)
Galician: intimidar (gl)
Georgian: დაშინება (dašineba)
German: einschüchtern (de)
Greek: εκφοβίζω (el) (ekfovízo)
Ancient: ἐκφοβέω (ekphobéō)
Hebrew: הפחיד‎ (hifkhíd), איים‎ (iyém)
Hindi: धमकाना (hi) (dhamkānā)
Hungarian: megfélemlít (hu)
Ido: timidigar (io)
Italian: intimidire (it)
Japanese: 脅す (ja) (おどす, odosu), 威嚇する (ja) (いかくする, ikaku suru)
Khmer: បំភ័យ (km) (bɑmphɨy)
Korean: 협박하다 (ko) (hyeopbakhada), 위협하다 (ko) (wihyeophada)
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: įbauginti
Macedonian: заплашува impf (zaplašuva), заплаши pf (zaplaši), застрашува impf (zastrašuva), застраши pf (zastraši)
Maori: whakaweti, whakahakahaka, kapatau
Mongolian: айлгах (mn) (ajlgax)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: skremme (no)
Occitan: intimidar
Polish: zastraszać (pl) impf, zastraszyć pf
Portuguese: intimidar (pt), amedrontar (pt)
Romanian: intimida (ro)
Russian: пуга́ть (ru) impf (pugátʹ), испуга́ть (ru) pf (ispugátʹ), запу́гивать (ru) impf (zapúgivatʹ), запуга́ть (ru) pf (zapugátʹ), устраша́ть (ru) impf (ustrašátʹ), устраши́ть (ru) pf (ustrašítʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: застраши́вати impf, за̀страшити pf
Roman: zastrašívati (sh) impf, zàstrašiti (sh) pf
Slovak: zastrašovať impf, zastrašiť pf
Slovene: zastraševati impf, zastrašiti pf
Spanish: intimidar (es), amedrentar (es)
Swedish: skrämma (sv)
Telugu: బెదిరించు (te) (bediriñcu), భయపెట్టు (te) (bhayapeṭṭu)
Thai: ขู่ (th) (kùu), ข่มขู่ (th) (kòm-kùu)
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: поло́хати impf (polóxaty), споло́хувати impf (spolóxuvaty), споло́хати pf (spolóxaty), страха́ти impf (straxáty), страши́ти impf (strašýty), застраши́ти pf (zastrašýty), ляка́ти impf (ljakáty), заля́кувати impf (zaljákuvaty), заляка́ти pf (zaljakáty)
Urdu: دھمکانا‎ (dhamkānā)
Vietnamese: dọa nạt (vi), hăm dọa, trộ (vi)
Zazaki: tersanen, xof kerden

References

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