How do you use the word "bully" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "bully": Go and beat up that bully. He used to bully his friends.

Bully Meaning

/ˈbʊli/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those whom they perceive as being vulnerable or of less power or privilege.

nounA noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.

Sentence Examples

Go and beat up that bully.

He used to bully his friends.

Tom was warned not to bully Mary again.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

good great neat

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The older student would often ____ the younger kids on the playground.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The teacher talked to the class about why it is wrong to ____ others.

Word Origin & History

From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( + -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *bōlô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English Bōla, Bōlla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *bō- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian bālinš (“brother”). More at boy. The term acquired a negative connotation during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Besides, bullies seldom execute the threats they deal in; and men of trick and cunning are not always men of desperate resolves." — 1840 September 22, Lord Palmerston, The Life of Henry John Temple, Viscount of Palmerston, 3rd edition, volume 2, published 1871, page 327:

"And I think the facts are that Beijing is a belligerent bully jealous and envious of what Taiwan has accomplished- mainland China- that's what I get out of all of this." — 1999 August 5, Jesse Helms, quotee, 1:27 from the start, in USA: CHINA/TAIWAN TENSIONS MOUNTING, Associated Press, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2026:

"Mr. Fisher returned from town... he had learnt that our opponents intended to shift the scene of operations to the Chats... We understood that they had hired two bullies for the purpose of deciding the matter par voie de fait. Mr Fisher hired two of the same description, who were supposed to be more than a match for the opposition party." — 1849, John McLean, Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory, pages 42–3:

"The Proclamation Society and the Society for the Suppression of Vice were more concerned with obscene literature […] than with hands-on street battles with prostitutes and their bullies […]." — 2009, Dan Cruikshank, Secret History of Georgian London, Random House, page 473:

"What sayest thou, Bully Bottom?" — c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

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