intimidate

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin intimidātus, perfect passive participle of Latin intimidō (“to intimidate, terrify”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“in”) + timidus (“afraid, timid”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix); see timid.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/, [ɪnˈtʰɪmɪdeɪ̯t]
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɪmɪdɛjt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Australia) IPA^(key): /ənˈtɪmədæɪt/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ənˈtəmədæɪt/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɪmɪdet/
• (Wales) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeːt/
• Hyphenation: in‧tim‧i‧date

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To make timid or afraid; to cause to feel fear or nervousness; to deter, especially by threats of violence.

   Synonym: abash

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

   • 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.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:intimidate

Derived terms

• unintimidate

Related terms

• intimidatingly
• intimidation
• intimidator
• intimidatory
• timid

Translations

to make timid or fearful

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: أَخَافَ (ʔaḵāfa), أَرْعَبَ (ʔarʕaba), خَوَّفَ (ar) (ḵawwafa), أَرْهَبَ (ʔarhaba)
• Armenian: վախեցնել (hy) (vaxecʻnel)
• 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 Greek: 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)
• Māori: whakaweti, whakahakahaka, kapatau
• Mongolian: айлгах (mn) (ailgax)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skremme (no)

• Occitan: intimidar (oc)
• 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

  Latin: 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: sindirmek (tr), yıldırmak (tr)
• 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 (vi), trộ (vi)
• Zazaki: tersanen, xof kerden

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “intimidate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “intimidate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /intimiˈdate/ [ĩn̪.t̪i.miˈð̞a.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate
• Syllabification: in‧ti‧mi‧da‧te

Verb

intimidate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of intimidar combined with te