bully
part of speech
noun (a bully, bullies); verb (bully, bullies, bullied, bullying)
meaning for a pupil
1) A bully is a person who hurts, frightens or picks on someone smaller or weaker again and again on purpose. tree →
2) To bully someone is to keep hurting, threatening, teasing or leaving them out on purpose. tree →
3) Bully can also be an old friendly word for a good fellow, used when speaking warmly to a friend. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school and safety lessons: bullying can be hitting, name-calling, spreading rumours, leaving people out or online (cyberbullying); it is never the victim's fault; tell a trusted adult and stand up for others. In stories, bullies often learn a lesson or the hero finds courage. Phrases: stand up to a bully, anti-bullying, be bullied.
examples
- Tell a teacher if someone is bullying you. tree →
- The bully took his lunch money. tree →
- Being bullied is never your fault. tree →
- We stood up for her when the bully called her names. tree →
- Our school has an anti-bullying week. tree →
- Bullying online is called cyberbullying. tree →
- A real friend never bullies you. tree →
- The bully said sorry in the end. tree →
note
Plural: bullies; past: bullied (y changes to i). Bullying means it happens again and again on purpose; one fight or one rude comment is unkind but not always bullying. «Bully for you!» is an old phrase meaning «well done» (often sarcastic).
In the corpora
- Online cruelty drives real people off social media; memes mocking someone's looks are bullying, even when lots of people share them.
- Making or sharing fake pictures of real people to mock them is bullying and can be against the law.
- Editing someone's photo with AI without permission can be unkind and can be bullying; the edited picture is not the real person.
- Bullied children often feel scared or ashamed to tell, even though it is not their fault.
- Bullies pick on children who are alone more often, so staying near friends and adults helps.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «bully» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.