intimidated
Meaning
feeling frightened or lacking confidence because you are nervous or worried about something
made someone feel frightened or less confident
Structure
Usage
she felt intimidated by the aggressive questioning during the interview.
the loud protests were meant to intimidate the voters.
he was too intimidated by her reputation to ask for a collaboration.
Etymology
the word 'intimidated' traces its lineage to the latin verb 'intimidare', meaning 'to make afraid'. this verb itself is a combination of the intensive prefix 'in-' and the adjective 'timidus', which means 'fearful'. 'timidus' derives from the latin noun 'timor', meaning 'fear', a term with deep roots in the proto-indo-european base meaning 'to be afraid'. the logical progression is direct: the core concept of 'fear' embedded in 'timid' is acted upon ('-ate') and directed inward ('in-'), resulting in the modern sense of being made to feel fear or a loss of confidence. the '-ed' suffix then adapts it to function as a past-tense verb or a descriptive adjective in english.
Analysis
in (latin, prefix meaning 'into' or 'towards', here intensifying the state) timid (latin, root meaning 'fearful' or 'easily frightened') ate (latin, verb-forming suffix) ed (old english, suffix forming past tense or past participle)