hector1
/ˈhɛktə
/verb [with object]
Talk to (someone) in a bullying way: she doesn’t hector us about giving up things (as adjective hectoring) a brusque, hectoring manner...
- Indeed, we've come a long way from the ‘responsibility era’ that Junior has been hectoring us about for the last four years.
- But the guy continued hectoring me to watch more episodes so that I might become enlightened and see the error of my ways.
- Fair enough - if listening to him hectoring us about scarce resources and carbon emissions is what it takes to conserve the planet then it's a price worth paying.
Synonyms
bully, intimidate, browbeat, cow, badger, chivvy, harass, torment, plague;
coerce, pressurize, strong-arm, threaten, menace, ride roughshod over, use strong-arm tactics on, dragoon
informal bulldoze, railroad, steamroller
North American informal bullyrag
Derivatives
hectoringly
- His message - the persistence and evolving continuity of life - is hardly profound, yet it hectoringly pervades four volumes totalling over two thousand pages.
- But for the most part the tone of the works on show alternates between the hectoringly political and the philosophically profound.
- The treatment is well-judged, pointed but never hectoringly didactic, in a screenplay by the director's brother.
Origin
Late Middle English: from the Trojan warrior Hector. Originally denoting a hero, the sense later became 'braggart or bully' (applied in the late 17th century to a member of a gang of London youths), hence 'talk to in a bullying way'.
Rhymes
Hector2
/ˈhɛktə/Greek Mythology
A Trojan warrior, son of Priam and Hecuba and husband of Andromache. He was killed by Achilles, who dragged his body behind his chariot three times round the walls of Troy.