bully
verb/ˈbʊli/
/ˈbʊli/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they bully | /ˈbʊli/ /ˈbʊli/ |
| he / she / it bullies | /ˈbʊliz/ /ˈbʊliz/ |
| past simple bullied | /ˈbʊlid/ /ˈbʊlid/ |
| past participle bullied | /ˈbʊlid/ /ˈbʊlid/ |
| -ing form bullying | /ˈbʊliɪŋ/ /ˈbʊliɪŋ/ |
- to frighten or hurt a weaker person; to use your strength or power to make somebody do something
- bully somebody My son is being bullied at school.
- bully somebody into something/into doing something I won't be bullied into signing anything.
Extra Examples- Don't be bullied by people who shout at you.
- He was bullied rather than persuaded into going with them.
- I could hear the doctor bullying his patients in a good-natured way.
- I suppose I got bullied into it by my family.
- Sometimes the older girls bullied us and made us give them our sweets.
Word Originmid 16th cent.: probably from Middle Dutch boele ‘lover’. Original use was as a term of endearment applied to either sex; it later became a familiar form of address to a male friend. The current sense dates from the late 17th cent.
Check pronunciation:
bully