MEANING
To tolerate or endure an unwelcome person, action, or condition.
Use it for
Use in forceful dialogue or a formal statement of limits.Give refusal or intolerance a concise, stern register.
Words that belong together
- brook no interference
- brook no delay
- cannot brook
On the page
The captain would brook no challenge to his order.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Word forms
- Base
- brook
- Past tense
- brooked
- Past participle
- brooked
- Present participle
- brooking
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- brook
- Present continuous
- am/is/are brooking
- Present perfect
- have/has brooked
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been brooking
- Past
- brooked
- Past continuous
- was/were brooking
- Past perfect
- had brooked
- Past perfect continuous
- had been brooking
- Future
- will brook
- Future continuous
- will be brooking
- Future perfect
- will have brooked
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been brooking
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
A formal, somewhat old-fashioned verb, especially natural in negative constructions such as “brook no dissent.”
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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