bullies 1 of 2

noun

plural of bully
1
as in enemies
a person who teases, threatens, or hurts smaller, weaker, or more vulnerable persons the school has a procedure for students who want to report problems with bullies

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in thugs
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang the local loan shark and his bullies have ways of making people pay up

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bullies

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of bully
1
as in abuses
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon the kindergarten teacher explained why it was wrong to bully classmates

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in intimidates
to make timid or fearful by or as if by threats the manager was fired for bullying employees

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of bullies
Noun
Hathaway hilariously portrays the growing pains of trying to learn royal etiquette while navigating dreamy boys and high-school bullies. — Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 15 Aug. 2026 The Pratts are in serious crisis, besieged by bullies and bad neighbors outside of their house and foundation-crumbling dysfunction inside it. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 Aug. 2026 In a fit of rage a couple of nights later, Kimmel grabbed his father’s handgun, found the truck of bullies responsible, and blocked them in. — Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026 Just quash that bill and stop playing with the bullies on the playground. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 10 July 2026 All Balogun playing did was make the Americans seem like bullies who just lost the fight as everyone else howled laughter. — Miami Herald, 7 July 2026 Including some rather nasty, big corpo bullies who enlist specialist teams to hunt down clues, and other players, too. — Grace Dean, Space.com, 1 July 2026 Ben Silverstone gives a moving performance as teenage Steven, who spends the film fighting bullies and breakups on the path to self-acceptance. — Rachel Simon, Vulture, 19 June 2026 Even the would-be bullies benefit from McCarthy’s overarching refusal to flatten people into PSA talking points. — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 19 June 2026
Verb
Backstage, Kenny Omega calls the Don Callis Family bullies and tells them to pick any three members to face him and The Young Bucks, who are standing beside Omega, next week. — Rob Wolkenbrod, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2026 Williams called Valkyries fans bullies in an Instagram Live stream earlier this week, and by Friday night, Chase Center had the receipts. — Nathan Canilao, Mercury News, 20 June 2026 Sweden’s Hien had no idea how to stop Brobbey’s darting runs when looking to connect with crosses from out wide and the striker routinely bullies bigger boys before either scoring or creating for others. — Carl Anka, New York Times, 20 June 2026 The Pledge is meaningless if the president of the United States lies to us, divides us, bullies us and steals from us. — Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 24 Apr. 2026 Collective action deters bullies Harvard never stood alone. — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 1 Feb. 2026 There’s always a mean kid in your class who bullies everybody else. — Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026 Henry Bowers is the local punk who relentlessly bullies the Losers' Club and later falls under the spell of Pennywise. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Dec. 2025 Cipher bullies other characters across the season about their powers, but because of Andre and Polarity’s degenerative abilities, this underscores the eugenics behind his beliefs. — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 24 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bullies
  1. enemies
  2. thugs
  3. abuses
  4. intimidates
  5. intimidators
  6. criminals
  7. frightens
  8. harassers
Noun
  • For decades, engineering, technical, and industrial processes first explored as methods of keeping nations safe or attacking enemies have also found their way into the civilian world.
    — Kamal Ahmed, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Posture is often more important than vitality, since deathblows can be activated even if an enemy has high health, but higher health also aids faster posture recovery, both for Wolf and his enemies.
    — Aman Kumar, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of enemies
Noun
  • The eponymous former assassin is drawn back into the game after some thugs (led by Alfie Allen) kill his dog and royally piss him off.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Shortly after his big win, he’s attacked by two thugs in a parking garage.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 July 2026
Definition of thugs
Verb
  • Detectives will continue investigating these cases aggressively, and anyone who abuses their position with a child will be held accountable.
    — Brittany Miller, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • New York City’s child welfare agency routinely abuses its emergency power to take children from their parents without a court order, creating lifelong consequences for families, a new class-action lawsuit seeking to end the practice alleged Thursday.
    — Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 28 May 2026
Definition of abuses
Verb
  • Melanie Melanie came to this reunion prepared with both facts and a prosecutorial confrontation style that effectively intimidates all of her on-stage opponents.
    — Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 1 Sep. 2026
  • In the five vignettes, James, as his character Eddie Horniman, intimidates various individuals while going through the clean-up, the sacrifice, the angle, the cut and the judgment — all steps of serving Stella Artois.
    — Chiara Kim, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of intimidates
Noun
  • All the while, Sarah is being hunted by corporate intimidators Dawson (Sam Worthington) and Rosetti (Willa Fitzgerald), who want to ensure her silence.
    — EW.com, EW.com, 22 Aug. 2025
Definition of intimidators
Noun
  • Throughout the bar are blurbs of information on cases and criminals, researched by Rose and the team.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2026
  • When criminals are behind bars, their victims should finally be safe from them.
    — Caden Perry, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of criminals
Verb
  • Penelope, too, is asked to occupy a landscape that frightens her, not only as a neurodivergent child in a neurotypical culture, but as a child now situated in an adult world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Aug. 2026
  • And for members who have a long history, who are used to running on that long history, that frightens them.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of frightens
Noun
  • White stars can help by publicly supporting their Black colleagues, who are especially targeted by online trolls and harassers.
    — Ian O'Connor, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Still, the star did not name her harassers.
    — Chanel Vargas, InStyle, 22 May 2026
Definition of harassers

Browse Nearby Words

bullied
bullies
bulling
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Cite this Entry

“Bullies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bullies. Accessed 3 Sep. 2026.

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