Bullying is the use of force or coercion to abuse or intimidate others. The behavior can be habitual and involve an imbalance of social or physical power. It can include verbal harassement or threat, physical asault or coercion and may be directed repeatedly towards particular victims, perhaps on grounds of class, race, religion, gender, sexuality, apprearance, behavior or ability. If bullying is done by a group, it is called mobbing. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a "target".
Bullying consists of four basic types of abuse – emotional (sometimes called relational), verbal, physical and cyber. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as intimidation.
Bullying ranges from simple one-on-one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more "lieutenants" who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his or her bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse.
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