Synonyms of browbeaten

browbeaten 1 of 2

adjective

as in cowed

Related Words

• cowed
• intimidated
• oppressed
• bullied
• downtrodden
• crushed
• hectored
• persecuted
• abused
• tyrannized
• maltreated
• dispirited
• mistreated
• abject
• disheartened
• despairing
• downcast
• hopeless

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

• intimidated
• bullied
• frightened
• scared
• threatened
• harassed
• cowed
• coerced
• hectored
• bulldozed
• strong-armed
• picked on
• bullyragged
• spooked
• bogarted
• blackjacked
• terrified
• badgered
• shocked
• terrorized
• blustered
• alarmed
• horrified
• pressured
• forced
• hounded
• startled
• menaced
• upset
• made
• dragooned
• compelled
• bludgeoned
• obliged
• constrained
• affrighted
• demoralized
• trash-talked
• perturbed
• disquieted
• pressed
• disconcerted
• unnerved
• distressed
• disturbed
• pushed around
• discomposed
• psyched (out)
• unmanned

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• reassured
• comforted
• cheered
• consoled
• soothed
• encouraged
• emboldened
• convinced
• persuaded
• heartened
• solaced
• steeled

Example Sentences

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

Pheu Thai, conservatives believed, could always be co-opted or browbeaten into a politics of benefit sharing in which wealth and power were divided between a Pheu Thai figurehead and conservative power brokers. — Duncan McCargo, Foreign Affairs, 24 Aug. 2026

Dodgers management didn’t browbeat Treinen and Call, and that’s fine — ballplayers should be entitled to share their personal thoughts, however noxious. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026

No need to legally browbeat AI makers or require AI developers to implement specialized AI safety features. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

England looked cowed and browbeaten by the second half of the semifinal, which allowed Lionel Messi to do what only Lionel Messi can do. — Ben Church, CNN Money, 16 July 2026

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