browbeat
/ˈbɹaʊ.biːt/verb
browbeat is spelled B-R-O-W-B-E-A-T: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, browbeat means “To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in browbeat?
| Letters | 8: B-R-O-W-B-E-A-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 12 million words; the 103,949th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is browbeat?
Browbeat appears about once in every 12 million words in written English, the 103,949th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce browbeat?
- US /ˈbɹaʊ.biːt/
Browbeat has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-browbeat.ogg, En-au-browbeat.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of browbeat
- browbeats present, singular, he/she/it
- browbeating participle, present
- browbeaten participle, past
- brow-beat
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does browbeat mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To bully in an intimidating, bossy, or supercilious way.
Though the teacher browbeat all the children, they still acted out during the lesson.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Browbeat in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense to bully in an intimidating way:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | intimider, brusquer |
| German | einschüchtern, unter Druck setzen, tyrannisieren |
| Portuguese | intimidar |
| Spanish | intimidar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does browbeat come from?
From brow + beat.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).