BULLYING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bullying mean? 

• BULLYING (noun)
  The noun BULLYING has 1 sense:

1. the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something

  Familiarity information: BULLYING used as a noun is very rare.

• BULLYING (adjective)
  The adjective BULLYING has 1 sense:

1. noisily domineering; tending to browbeat others

  Familiarity information: BULLYING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BULLYING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bullying; intimidation

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

aggression (deliberately unfriendly behavior)

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

frightening; terrorisation; terrorization (the act of inspiring with fear)

• BULLYING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Noisily domineering; tending to browbeat others

Synonyms:

blustery; bullying

Similar:

domineering (tending to domineer)

 Context examples 

The moment White Fang appeared near them, Lip-lip was upon him, bullying and hectoring him, or fighting with him until he had driven him away.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

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)

Often people dismiss bullying among kids as a normal part of growing up.

(Bullying, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

His bullying, overbearing manner was all gone too, and he cringed along at my companion’s side like a dog with its master.

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

He darted into the hall, and a few moments later his bullying voice sounded from the back room.

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

A row started. Somebody was bullying somebody, and Martin interfered, to be confronted by Cheese-Face's blazing eyes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

This crew's dissatisfied; this crew don't vally bullying a marlin-spike; this crew has its rights like other crews, I'll make so free as that; and by your own rules, I take it we can talk together.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There were very few people about, and though the sun was bright, and the air clear and fresh, the big, grim-looking waves, that seemed dark themselves because the foam that topped them was like snow, forced themselves in through the narrow mouth of the harbour—like a bullying man going through a crowd.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was an involuntary bristling on his part, the physical state that in the past had always accompanied the mental state produced in him by Lip-lip's bullying and persecution.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

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)