1
: money or favor given or promised in order to influence the judgment or conduct of a person in a position of trust
police officers accused of taking bribes
2
: something that serves to induce or influence
offered the kid a bribe to finish his homework
bribed; bribing
: to influence the judgment or conduct of (someone) with or as if with offers of money or favor : to induce or influence by or as if by bribery
attempting to bribe a judge
bribing a child with candy
: to practice bribery
Synonyms
Examples of bribe in a Sentence
Noun
I offered the children a bribe for finishing their homework.
that judge refused a huge bribe to dismiss the charges against the wealthy defendant
Verb
She was arrested for attempting to bribe a judge.
They bribed him to keep quiet about the incident.
We bribed the children with candy.
Recent Examples on the Web
Oleksandr Sheremeta, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
Defendants were accused of having drugs in court; a Fulton County jailer was accused of taking bribes from a defendant's family; a defendant was stabbed while in jail; and at one point Williams' defense attorney, Brian Steel, being held in contempt of court.
—Kristal Dixon, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024
Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024
Advertisement Federal law prohibits threatening election officials or staff with violence, intimidating or bribing voters, buying or selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters without their input.
—Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bribe 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
By its conception, AI does not make mistakes, does not take bribes and is not afraid of anything.
—Oleksandr Sheremeta, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
Defendants were accused of having drugs in court; a Fulton County jailer was accused of taking bribes from a defendant's family; a defendant was stabbed while in jail; and at one point Williams' defense attorney, Brian Steel, being held in contempt of court.
—Kristal Dixon, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024
Verb
Despite his bribery and corruption being an open secret among 7th Fleet sailors, Francis was able to stay one step ahead of investigators for years, at one point bribing a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent to leak him details about criminal probes.
—Alex Riggins, The Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2024
Advertisement Federal law prohibits threatening election officials or staff with violence, intimidating or bribing voters, buying or selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes and marking ballots for voters without their input.
—Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 4 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bribe
Dictionary Entries Near bribe
Cite this Entry
“Bribe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bribe. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
bribe
1 of 2 noun
: something given or promised to a person in order to influence a decision or action dishonestly
bribe
2 of 2 verb
bribed; bribing
: to influence or try to influence by a bribe
briber
noun
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share