BRIBE
What does "BRIBE" mean?
Money or a favor offered to persuade someone to act dishonestly.
Meanings
- A payment or gift given to influence someone's behavior, usually corruptly. The inspector was offered a bribe to ignore the violations.
- To persuade someone to act in your favor by giving money or a gift. They tried to bribe the official with cash in an envelope.
- To coax someone, often a child, with a small reward. I bribed the kids with ice cream to finish their homework. informal
Did you know?
- A 'bribe' was once an act of charity: in Old French it meant a chunk of bread handed to a beggar, before the word soured into the language of corruption.
Word origin
From Old French 'bribe', meaning a piece of bread given to a beggar; the sense shifted through 'something extorted or begged' to the modern meaning of corrupt payment.
Remember it
A BRIBE often comes in an enveloPE - and TRIBE rhymes: it corrupts whoever you owe.
A little poem
A folded note slides quiet under glass-
the bribe asks nothing loud, just let it pass.
couplet
Wordplay
- I offered the toddler a cookie to behave; he called it a snack, the law calls it a bribe.
What it teaches
A bribe buys a single yes and sells every future no you might have made for free.
Quick facts
What does BRIBE mean?
Money or a favor offered to persuade someone to act dishonestly.
Is BRIBE a valid word?
Yes — BRIBE is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is BRIBE?
BRIBE has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does BRIBE come from?
From Old French 'bribe', meaning a piece of bread given to a beggar; the sense shifted through 'something extorted or begged' to the modern meaning of corrupt payment.
What can BRIBE teach us?
A bribe buys a single yes and sells every future no you might have made for free.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.