Other forms: intimidating, intimidated, intimidates
To intimidate is to frighten someone into doing what you want. Intimidate the witness, feel intimidated, intimidating manner.
Intimidating a witness is a serious criminal offence in its own right, because the justice system cannot work without people willing to speak. Intimidating as an adjective often describes an effect nobody intended. The Latin timidus means afraid.
1verbintimidateTo frighten someone into doing what you want.
“The gang tried to intimidate shop owners into paying them money.”
intimidate is a frightening.
Also accepted in games: scare, bully
Latin intimidare comes from in- plus timidus, afraid, from timere, to fear. Timid is the same root.
Latin
intimidō — to intimidate, terrify
Medieval Latin
intimidātus
English, today
intimidate
Built from
From Medieval Latin intimidātus, perfect passive participle of Latin intimidō (“to intimidate, terrify”) (see -ate), from in- (“in”) + timidus (“afraid, timid”) + -ō; see timid.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA