strong-arm

See also: strongarm

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From strong +‎ arm.

Verb

strong-arm (third-person singular simple present strong-arms, present participle strong-arming, simple past and past participle strong-armed)

  1. (often figurative, transitive) To bully, to intimidate; to coerce, to muscle.
    • 2001, Bob Dylan, “Floater (Too Much to Ask)”, in Love and Theft:
      One of the boss’ hangers-on
      Comes to call at times you least expect
      Try to bully ya—strong-arm you—inspire you with fear
    • 2023 March 14, Alexandra Jacobs, “Your Annoying Roommate Is Slaying on TikTok”, in The New York Times‎[1]:
      In a five-part series on the “Extremely Passive Aggressive Roommate,” Ms. Brier […] complains about her roomie coming home at 3:27 a.m.; strong-arms that roommate into renewing their lease and then welcomes a guest to “the common space.”
    • 2023 August 9, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Disinterested and dishonest”, in RAIL, number 989, page 3:
      It is difficult to summarise the arrogance, contempt, complacency and incompetence shown by the DfT in a scheme where it strong-armed the rail industry (in the form of the Rail Delivery Group) to 'front up'.
    • 2025 July 9, Blake Montgomery, Nick Robins-Early, “Linda Yaccarino stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk’s X”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      The CEO was often forced back into damage control mode, however, including denying reports from the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that X had strong-armed companies to advertise on the platform by threatening lawsuits against them.

Coordinate terms

Noun

strong-arm (plural strong-arms)

  1. A person who threatens or intimidates others, especially on behalf of somebody else; a goon or enforcer.
    • 2000, Irving Shulman, The Big Brokers:
      There used to be a goon I knew in the Bronx—a tough mockie we used to call Yussel the Bricklayer—and you never saw a guy who was more screwed up. This guy Yussel would've been a strongarm for nothing, he enjoyed it so much.

See also

Adjective

strong-arm (not comparable)

  1. Bullying; extortionate.
  2. (usually figuratively) Coercive, employing force.
    • 2025 July 9, David Stubbings, “Network News: Open access row: DfT accused of "strong-arm tactics"”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 6:
      "Some applications will fail. ORR does not need strong-arm tactics from DfT muddying the waters."

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