"boss around" meaning in English

See boss around in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: bosses around [present, singular, third-person], bossing around [participle, present], bossed around [participle, past], bossed around [past]
Etymology: * From boss and around. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} boss around (third-person singular simple present bosses around, present participle bossing around, simple past and past participle bossed around)
  1. (transitive) To act in a bossy manner with another person, ordering them to do things, whether or not one is actually their superior. Tags: transitive Synonyms: boss about Translations (to act in a bossy manner): komennella (Finnish), mener à la baguette (French), herumkommandieren (German)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "* From boss and around.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bosses around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossing around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossed around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossed around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "boss around (third-person singular simple present bosses around, present participle bossing around, simple past and past participle bossed around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              100
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Ryk E. Spoor, Spheres of Influence:",
          "text": "One big difference between me and my literary original; I haven't the faintest desire to boss around planetsful of people.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act in a bossy manner with another person, ordering them to do things, whether or not one is actually their superior."
      ],
      "id": "en-boss_around-en-verb-Ak3RI3mI",
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "bossy",
          "bossy"
        ],
        [
          "manner",
          "manner"
        ],
        [
          "ordering",
          "ordering"
        ],
        [
          "superior",
          "superior"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To act in a bossy manner with another person, ordering them to do things, whether or not one is actually their superior."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "boss about"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
          "word": "komennella"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
          "word": "mener à la baguette"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
          "word": "herumkommandieren"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "boss around"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "* From boss and around.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "bosses around",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossing around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossed around",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bossed around",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "boss around (third-person singular simple present bosses around, present participle bossing around, simple past and past participle bossed around)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs formed with \"around\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              100
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2013, Ryk E. Spoor, Spheres of Influence:",
          "text": "One big difference between me and my literary original; I haven't the faintest desire to boss around planetsful of people.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act in a bossy manner with another person, ordering them to do things, whether or not one is actually their superior."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "act",
          "act"
        ],
        [
          "bossy",
          "bossy"
        ],
        [
          "manner",
          "manner"
        ],
        [
          "ordering",
          "ordering"
        ],
        [
          "superior",
          "superior"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive) To act in a bossy manner with another person, ordering them to do things, whether or not one is actually their superior."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "boss about"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
      "word": "komennella"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
      "word": "mener à la baguette"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to act in a bossy manner",
      "word": "herumkommandieren"
    }
  ],
  "word": "boss around"
}

Download raw JSONL data for boss around meaning in English (2.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-24 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (813e02a and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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