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Glite Dictionary
🐻 A cruel sport 😠 To provoke 🐕 To attack a bear
to bear-baiting

to bear-baiting

9.5
To try to make people angry on purpose to get a strong reaction
  • verb
  • /ˈbɛrˌbeɪtɪŋ/
  • Offensive
translation icon : provocar
  • The journalist was accused of bear-baiting the politician during the heated interview.

Examples

  • He enjoyed bear-baiting his rivals with sharp questions at every meeting.

  • Some protesters resorted to bear-baiting the police to draw attention to their cause.

  • Don't bear-bait me just because I'm new here!

  • They often bear-bait the new manager to see how he reacts.

  • The journalist was accused of bear-baiting the politician during the heated interview.

  • Some protesters resorted to bear-baiting the police to draw attention to their cause.

  • He enjoyed bear-baiting his rivals with sharp questions at every meeting.

Synonyms

to pick
vsto bear-baiting
165 4.8

To start a fight or argument by annoying someone

seeks a strong reaction from authority rather than starting a personal fight
to bait
vsto bear-baiting
35 6.8

To tease someone to make them angry or upset

aims for a strong reaction from authorities rather than casual teasing
to poke the bear
vsto bear-baiting
  • Informal
3 8.4

To do something on purpose to make an angry or dangerous person react

deliberately harasses authorities or groups to cause a strong reaction

How Provoking

to incite
  • NSFW
72 7.7
to bear-baiting
  • Offensive
9.5
to provoke
115 3.7
to irritate
78 2.9
to annoy
246 1.0

Surface Forms

bear-baiting infinitive
bear-baited past
bear-baited past participle
bear-baiting present participle
bear-baits third person singular

Morphology

bear-baiting = bear-bait (semi-transparent) = bear + bait + ing

The components are recognizable, but the sense is a figurative extension (provoking a person) rather than the literal blood sport.

Etymology

Bear-baiting comes from the idea of 'baiting' a bear, that is, 'to tease or provoke' it to make it angry, so to bear-bait someone now means to annoy or provoke them on purpose to get a strong reaction.