intimidating
adjective, verb
intimidating is spelled I-N-T-I-M-I-D-A-T-I-N-G: 12 letters and 5 syllables. It appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, intimidating means “Threatening, producing feelings of fear or timidity” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in intimidating?
| Letters | 12: I-N-T-I-M-I-D-A-T-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 3.6 times per million words; the 13,695th 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 intimidating?
Intimidating appears 3.6 times per million words in written English, the 13,695th 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 intimidating?
Intimidating has 5 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).
Forms of intimidating
- more intimidating comparative
- most intimidating superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does intimidating mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Threatening, producing feelings of fear or timidity.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of intimidate
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Intimidating in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense threatening:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | intimidant |
| German | einschüchternd |
| Portuguese | intimidador |
| Spanish | intimidante |
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.