bribe

bribe

/braɪb/

​a sum of money or something valuable that you give or offer to somebody to persuade them to help you, especially by doing something dishonest

It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office.

She had been offered a $50 000 bribe to drop the charges.

He paid out millions of dollars in bribes.

a bribe of €200

He was alleged to have accepted bribes while in office.

The company denied that the money was intended as a bribe.

The tax cut was described as a pre-election bribe.

Collocations

verb + bribe

give somebody

offer (somebody)

pay somebody…

preposition

in bribesbribe of

Word Origin

late Middle English: from Old French briber, brimber ‘beg’, of unknown origin. The original sense was ‘rob, extort’, hence (as a noun) ‘theft, stolen goods’, also ‘money extorted or demanded for favours’, later ‘offer money as an incentive’ (early 16th cent.).

e.g.