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# bully

«bully» in Mova's school dictionary: **a person who hurts, frightens or picks on someone smaller…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#m1)

2) To bully someone is to keep hurting, threatening, teasing or leaving them out on purpose. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#m2)

3) Bully can also be an old friendly word for a good fellow, used when speaking warmly to a friend. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#m3)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x1)
- The bully took his lunch money. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x2)
- Being bullied is never your fault. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x3)
- We stood up for her when the bully called her names. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x4)
- Our school has an anti-bullying week. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x5)
- Bullying online is called cyberbullying. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x6)
- A real friend never bullies you. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x7)
- The bully said sorry in the end. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/#x8)

### 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.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/48-famous-people-are-people/21/)
- [Making or sharing fake pictures of real people to mock them is bullying and can be against the law.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/12-keep-yourself-private-and-voices-that-lie/19/)
- [Editing someone's photo with AI without permission can be unkind and can be bullying; the edited picture is not the real person.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ai/16-secrets-scams-telling/13/)
- [Bullied children often feel scared or ashamed to tell, even though it is not their fault.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/55-bullying/11/)
- [Bullies pick on children who are alone more often, so staying near friends and adults helps.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/55-bullying/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bully» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bully/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.