in ‧ tim ‧ i ‧ date /ɪnˈtɪmədeɪt, ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/ BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Date: 1600-1700 ; Language: Medieval Latin ; Origin: past participle of intimidare , from Latin timidus ; ⇨ ↑ timid ]
1 . to frighten or threaten someone into making them do what you want
intimidate somebody into doing something
They tried to intimidate the young people into voting for them.
Attempts to intimidate her failed.
2 . to make someone feel worried and not confident:
The whole idea of going to Oxford intimidated me.
—intimidation /ɪnˌtɪməˈdeɪʃ ə n, ɪnˌtɪmɪˈdeɪʃ ə n/ noun [uncountable] :
She had endured years of intimidation and violence.
the intimidation of voters
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THESAURUS
▪ frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.
▪ scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten , and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us.
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It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
▪ terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
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Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
▪ give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
▪ give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.
▪ startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.
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The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
▪ alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.
▪ intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.