Meaning & use
Hectoring
Last updated
Speaking to someone in a bullying or intimidating manner.
See it in a sentence
The coach's hectoring tone made the players even more nervous before the game.
She grew tired of his hectoring lectures about how she should run her business.
A note on using this word
Traces back to Hector, the Trojan warrior in Homer's Iliad; the word came to mean 'to bully' by the 17th century, ironically given Hector's heroic reputation.
Words with a similar meaning
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Words with an opposite meaning
encouraginggentle
Another way to use it
2. verb
To talk to someone in a bullying way; to harass with persistent, aggressive words.
He kept hectoring his brother until their mother told him to stop.
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