Library / English Dictionary

BULLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: bullied   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cruel and brutal fellow

Synonyms:

bully; hooligan; roughneck; rowdy; ruffian; tough; yob; yobbo; yobo

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bully" is a kind of...):

aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bully"):

bullyboy (a swaggering tough; usually one acting as an agent of a political faction)

muscle; muscleman (a bully employed as a thug or bodyguard)

skin; skinhead (a member of any of several British or American groups consisting predominantly of young people who shave their heads; some engage in white supremacist and anti-immigrant activities and this leads to the perception that all skinheads are racist and violent)

plug-ugly; tough guy (someone who bullies weaker people)

Derivation:

bully (discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A hired thug

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("bully" is a kind of...):

goon; hood; hoodlum; punk; strong-armer; thug; tough; toughie (an aggressive and violent young criminal)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Very good

Example:

we had a grand old time

Synonyms:

bang-up; bully; corking; cracking; dandy; great; groovy; keen; neat; nifty; not bad; old; peachy; slap-up; smashing; swell

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

good (having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate

Synonyms:

browbeat; bully; swagger

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bully" is one way to...):

blarney; cajole; coax; inveigle; palaver; sweet-talk; wheedle (influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something

Sentence examples:

They bully him into writing the letter

They want to bully the prisoners

Derivation:

bully (a cruel and brutal fellow)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be bossy towards

Example:

Her big brother always bullied her when she was young

Synonyms:

ballyrag; boss around; browbeat; bully; bullyrag; hector; push around; strong-arm

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "bully" is one way to...):

intimidate (make timid or fearful)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bully"):

domineer; tyrannise; tyrannize (rule or exercise power over (somebody) in a cruel and autocratic manner)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

Sir John Mandeville redivivus—Cagliostro—all the imposters and bullies in history.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I pay my debts in my own time, and I’m not to be bullied.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We must both have cried out aloud when our eyes met, but while mine was the shrill cry of terror, his was a roar of fury like a charging bully's.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“You preach, about as consistent as they did. Won't umbleness go down? I shouldn't have got round my gentleman fellow-partner without it, I think. —Micawber, you old bully, I'll pay YOU!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

U.S. studies have reported that lead exposure causes what psychologists call externalizing behavior problems, such as aggressiveness and bullying, which may lead to truancy and even jail time as children get older.

(Lead in kids’ blood linked with behavioral and emotional problems, NIH)

Johnson and Leach were bullied and beaten as much as ever, and they looked for their lives to end with the end of the hunting season; while the rest of the crew lived the lives of dogs and were worked like dogs by their pitiless master.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He bullied and punished me; not two or three times in the week, nor once or twice in the day, but continually: every nerve I had feared him, and every morsel of flesh in my bones shrank when he came near.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Bullying is when a person or group repeatedly tries to harm someone who is weaker or who they think is weaker.

(Bullying, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

“Don’t imagine that you can bully me,” said he, rising to his feet.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I had that door painted only last week," Mr. Higginbotham half whined, half bullied; "and you know what union wages are. You should be more careful."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)