Definition

1. Verb:
   • To threaten, to intimidate: The act of using words, actions, or behavior to make someone feel afraid or coerced, typically to force them to do something or to stop them from doing something. It implies a deliberate attempt to instill fear.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Đừng dọa dẫm tôi. (Don't threaten me.)
  • Hắn thường dọa dẫm những người yếu thế hơn. (He often intimidates those who are weaker.)
  • Việc dọa dẫm người khác là hành vi sai trái. (Threatening others is wrongful behavior.)

Advanced Usage

• "dọa dẫm tinh thần": to psychologically intimidate, to mentally threaten.
  • Hành vi dọa dẫm tinh thần có thể để lại hậu quả nghiêm trọng. (Psychological intimidation can have serious consequences.)

Variants and Related Words

• Dọa (verb): to scare, to frighten. Often used in a more general sense than "dọa dẫm," which carries a stronger connotation of systematic or repeated intimidation.
  • Câu chuyện ma đó dọa đứa trẻ. (That ghost story scared the child.)
• Đe dọa (verb): to threaten, to menace. Very similar in meaning to "dọa dẫm" and often used interchangeably.
  • Lời đe dọa của hắn rất nghiêm trọng. (His threat was very serious.)
• Hăm dọa (verb): to menace, to threaten (often with a sense of immediacy or aggression).
  • Kẻ tấn công hăm dọa nạn nhân bằng dao. (The attacker menaced the victim with a knife.)

Synonyms

• Hù dọa: to scare, to frighten (often suddenly).
• Bắt nạt: to bully (often implies a power imbalance, like bullying among children).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Dọa dẫm cho chừa: to threaten someone to make them stop a habit or behavior.
  • Bố mẹ dọa dẫm cho nó chừa thói ăn cắp vặt. (His parents threatened him to make him stop his petty theft habit.)

Related Idioms

• Dọa dẫm như hùm beo: to threaten fiercely like a tiger or leopard; to make very fierce threats.
  • Ông chủ dọa dẫm nhân viên như hùm beo nhưng chẳng làm gì được. (The boss threatened the employees fiercely but couldn't do anything.)

1. Threaten, intimidate (nói khái quát)
   • Lời dọa dẫm
     A threat in words
   • Thủ đoạn dọa dẫm
     Intimidating methods