as in browbeating
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Dissimilar Words
as in intimidating
to make timid or fearful by or as if by threats
the judge warned the attorney that hectoring the witness with aggressive questioning would not be allowed
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hectoring
Greg Evans, Deadline, 31 Dec. 2025
Sure, there's the hectoring of Federal Reserve officials, Chairman Jerome Powell and Governor Lisa Cook, and the attempt by the president to make the central bank another appendage of the White House.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2025
Philip Elliott, Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Dealing with the hectoring racket of New York fans may well have prepared him to withstand the noise of the Super Bowl.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 9 Feb. 2026
Noun
Imagine if Clooney had chosen to use his star power to spotlight a genuinely worthy project — the way, say, Sarah Paulson did with Appropriate or Keanu Reeves is doing with Waiting For Godot — rather than the stuffy, moribund, on-the-nose hectoring that was Good Night, and Good Luck?
—Greg Evans, Deadline, 31 Dec. 2025
Sure, there's the hectoring of Federal Reserve officials, Chairman Jerome Powell and Governor Lisa Cook, and the attempt by the president to make the central bank another appendage of the White House.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
Perhaps more meaningfully, the message is the antithesis of a contrived political pitch or a hectoring sermon.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Dealing with the hectoring racket of New York fans may well have prepared him to withstand the noise of the Super Bowl.
—Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 9 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hectoring
Verb
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The Upper East Side townhouse feels intimidating in the way only very expensive real estate can—big rooms, high ceilings, everything perfectly in place.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
10 Apr. 2026
-
The Fundamentals of Japanese Approaching the language as a newcomer is intimidating.—
Caleb Jacobs,
The Drive,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Something incredible happened after Moriarty shared her experience with online bullying, though.—
Sophie Hanson,
StyleCaster,
8 Apr. 2026
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Los Angeles detectives arrested a juvenile in an alleged school bullying incident that left a 12-year-old girl dead after she was struck in the head with a metal water bottle.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
3 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Analysts have suggested a vote from Waller in favor of interest rate cuts, aligning with the president’s browbeating demands for lower borrowing costs—could be seen as a bellwether for his candidacy.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
28 Jan. 2026
-
This might take a series of browbeating prompts, but that’s not a big deal.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
18 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Their bulldozing run up through non-League and the EFL deserves respect, but they’re not held together by a rubber band.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Still, Iran's military and government survived the onslaught, are still functioning, and are now making their own demands in negotiations that lie ahead.—
Greg Myre,
NPR,
8 Apr. 2026
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Resisting an early onslaught from PSG is key to Liverpool's chances of keeping the tie alive heading into the return leg at Anfield next week.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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San Francisco police early Friday arrested a person who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman's home and made threats outside the AI giant's San Francisco headquarters, the company said in a statement.—
Daniel Arkin,
NBC news,
10 Apr. 2026
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Officials from the agency were entirely absent from last month’s RSAC conference, despite cybersecurity threats to national security being at an all-time high, especially considering the country is at war.—
Alan Henry,
PC Magazine,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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There seemed to be an unwarranted frenzy in the speed at which everything was played, as if music were as much a sport as an artistic pursuit.—
Tim Parks,
New Yorker,
11 Apr. 2026
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The Irishman recorded a hole-in-one on the sixth hole at Augusta National on Saturday, putting patrons into a frenzy.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The Testaments The Testaments picks up 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale’s June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) led Boston in a successful revolt against Gilead.—
Rebecca Aizin,
PEOPLE,
10 Apr. 2026
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The difference, according to him, is that, unlike Lenin’s Communist revolution, the right-wing revolt will empower people who are good.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Hectoring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hectoring. Accessed 15 Apr. 2026.
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