browbeaten 1 of 2

adjective

as in cowed

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browbeaten

2 of 2

verb

variants or browbeat
past participle of browbeat
as in intimidated
to make timid or fearful by or as if by threats they would often browbeat the younger child until he cried

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of browbeaten
Adjective
Audiences who endured the Miramax era have been browbeaten to believe that the best picture Oscar should go to a period piece that chokes out a sob from audiences. — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026 Not to the extent that the user is necessarily being browbeaten. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
Verb
But that bar was browbeaten by critics into pausing and then canceling the project. — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 7 Apr. 2026 Davies more or less browbeat her into terminating the pregnancy, and dropped out of college. — Christopher Tayler, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026 The administration’s apparent plan to resolve this difficulty is to shame or browbeat members of the artistic community into performing there. — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025 Not to mention the relentless White House campaign to browbeat Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates while auditioning dovish successors. — Michael Santoli, CNBC, 16 Aug. 2025 Some of them used that stage to browbeat Democratic politicians. — David Weigel, semafor.com, 11 Aug. 2025 But analysts have said Trump’s aggressive campaign to browbeat Powell into backing rate cuts could jeopardize the Fed’s autonomy and unnerve markets. — Paul Davidson, USA Today, 8 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for browbeaten
  1. intimidated
  2. bullied
  3. oppressed
  4. frightened
  5. downtrodden
  6. scared
  7. crushed
  8. threatened
Adjective
  • The biggest hurdle, though, is simply believing the Elle Woods who learns to prove her doubters wrong at 16 would be so intimidated when faced with doing it again at 22.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 29 June 2026
  • In traditional settings, people often feel rushed, intimidated, and unseen.
    — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 May 2026
Definition of intimidated
Verb
  • Bang-geul was bullied by her older half-siblings, who looked down on their younger sister because of her mom’s former status as a domestic employee.
    — Kayti Burt, Time, 6 July 2026
  • This was a rabid, partisan home-soil advantage that flat-out bullied the squad into surviving.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 2 July 2026
Definition of bullied
Adjective
  • The Irish were the original oppressed people from the English Empire, and the original colony.
    — Dan Adler, Vanity Fair, 15 May 2026
  • The body pointed to the fact that Iran’s Farabi cinema body, which oversees the country’s submission, was directly controlled by the hardline Islamic Republic regime government, which in turn has suppressed freedom of speech and brutally oppressed filmmakers across its 47 years in power.
    — Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 4 May 2026
Definition of oppressed
Verb
  • At the time of writing, as the Marine Traffic map shows, tanker traffic is barely moving through the Strait, and many ships, unable to obtain insurance or with their owners frightened at the level of risk involved, are refusing to advance.
    — Ariel Cohen, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026
  • But because the president has frightened Congress, Congress doesn’t raise its voice when the president puts his Albert Speer–like building project, or intends to, on Congress’s land.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 1 July 2026
Definition of frightened
Adjective
  • The series tracks the pair’s investment in Wrexham AFC, a once-downtrodden team in Wales that has since risen to the verge of a promotion to the Premier League, the highest tier of British pro soccer.
    — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 30 June 2026
  • The Union’s Army of the Potomac, about 90,000 men, was looking downtrodden after the losses.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 June 2026
Definition of downtrodden
Verb
  • Running into the real Santosh again amid that backdrop, Juyal asked him if the danger scared him.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 8 July 2026
  • Jefferies names it as a top pick, and the margin dip that scared investors is a temporary cost of its Armis acquisition that management expects to reverse in 2027.
    — Todd Gordon, CNBC, 8 July 2026
Definition of scared
Adjective
  • The noodles are soft and mixed with bean sprouts, egg and crushed peanuts.
    — Justin Brown, AJC.com, 12 July 2026
  • Oreo Overload Nachos from Dairy Zone for $10 start with waffle chips piled around vanilla ice cream, hot fudge topped with crushed Oreo cookies for dipping and whipped cream.
    — Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register, 9 July 2026
Definition of crushed
Verb
  • On a recent video call together, there is a certain gallows humor shared by Lehmann and Waters over the film, which at the time threatened to derail both of their careers.
    — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2026
  • Taliban restrictions on movement, education and employment have limited women's access to care and threatened the future pipeline of female doctors, nurses and midwives.
    — Fatima Faizi, NPR, 10 July 2026
Definition of threatened

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Cite this Entry

“Browbeaten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/browbeaten. Accessed 16 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on browbeaten

Nglish: Translation of browbeaten for Spanish Speakers

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