Words / B2

in-TIM-id-ayt/ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/

To intimidate is to frighten someone into doing what you want: intimidate witnesses; feel intimidated. Threaten is close; bully is more schoolyard. Do not intimidate interviewees. Noun: intimidation. Ethics and law. Do not use it for ordinary nerves before an oral.

Meaning

To frighten someone in order to make them do what you want.

Examples

• “Do not intimidate witnesses in the fieldwork interviews, the ethics form warned.”
• “A packed hall can intimidate first-time speakers, which is the weaker “daunt” sense.”

Good to know

intimidate someone into + -ing; feel intimidated. Noun: intimidation. Close: threaten. Ethics, sport, and courts. Fear used as pressure.

Near in meaning

threaten

New