intimidating
Definition
- Adjective:
- Causing fear or discouragement: Describes something or someone that makes others feel afraid, nervous, or less confident, often to control their behavior or prevent an action.
- Overwhelming or daunting: Describes something that appears so impressive, difficult, or severe that it discourages approach or attempt.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- The security guard had an intimidating presence that kept the crowd calm.
- She found the prospect of giving a speech to a large audience quite intimidating.
- The professor's intimidating reputation made students hesitant to ask questions.
Advanced Usage
- "to be intimidating": to have a quality that causes fear or awe.
- The sheer size of the ancient castle was intimidating.
- "to find something intimidating": to perceive something as frightening or overwhelming.
- Many beginners find the advanced software intimidating at first.
Variants and Related Words
- Intimidate (verb): To frighten or threaten someone, usually to make them do something.
- He tried to intimidate the witness into silence.
- Intimidation (noun): The action of intimidating someone; the state of being intimidated.
- The case involved allegations of witness intimidation.
- Intimidated (adjective): Feeling frightened or lacking confidence because of someone or something.
- She felt intimidated by the aggressive questioning.
Synonyms
- Daunting: Seeming difficult to deal with in anticipation; intimidating.
- Frightening: Causing fear or terror.
- Formidable: Inspiring fear or respect through being impressively powerful, intense, or capable.
- Overawing: Impressing someone so much that they are silent or inhibited.
Related Phrasal Verbs / Constructions
(Note: "Intimidating" is primarily an adjective. The related verb "intimidate" is used in phrasal constructions.) - Intimidate into: To frighten or threaten someone to force them to do something. - The gang tried to intimidate the shopkeeper into paying them protection money.
Related Idioms
- A chilling/sobering/intimidating prospect: Something that is frightening or daunting to consider.
- Facing a panel of expert judges is an intimidating prospect for any young musician.
Adjective
-
discouraging through fear
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