How to Use scold in a Sentence
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Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.
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Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
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There was no one to scold me for lapping up the mixture like a cat to milk.
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Via Chronicle Books,
Literary Hub,
9 Mar. 2026
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His sous chef scolded him for not informing the kitchen staff.
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Justin Ray,
Robb Report,
22 June 2023
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During the trip, the priest who was showing them around was scolded.
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Mckinley Franklin,
PEOPLE,
30 Jan. 2026
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If reporters cross over the line too far, Tierney pulls them aside to scold them.
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cleveland,
2 May 2020
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What is a disgrace is a guest who presumes to scold, much less kick, the other guests.
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Jacobina Martin,
Washington Post,
22 Nov. 2022
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And Curry has been scolded by his mom plenty of times, too.
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Janie McCauley,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Jan. 2026
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But they are supposed to respect their guests' judgment and not scold them in advance.
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Jacobina Martin,
Washington Post,
4 July 2022
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Governance scolds are appalled by the number, as is the pope.
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Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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Before the agents go home, TJ has to scold the teams who quit, per his contract.
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Kyndall Cunningham,
Vulture,
11 Mar. 2021
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Xing, who ran three massage parlors, could be a nasty boss, scolding or firing those who crossed her.
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Michael Finnegan,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Aug. 2023
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On our hike, Jessie Krebs scolds her boots for sliding on a slick, house-size boulder.
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Andrew McKean,
Outdoor Life,
19 Mar. 2026
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No doubt many grandmothers will want to scold us, but the truth is, soap isn't going to destroy your cast iron pans.
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Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
12 Nov. 2023
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McMahon likes to remind scolds that wrestling is a morality play.
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Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
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No doubt many grandmothers will want to scold us, but the truth is, soap isn't going to destroy your cast iron pans.
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Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
12 May 2026
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No doubt many grandmothers will want to scold us, but the truth is, soap isn't going to destroy your cast iron pans.
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Kimberly Holland,
Southern Living,
5 Nov. 2025
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Haberman used to scold her fellow reporters for their Twitter habits.
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Washington Post,
26 Aug. 2021
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Instead of pushing your luck and waiting for robo-choppers to come scold you, do the right thing and stay inside.
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Courtney Linder,
Popular Mechanics,
17 Mar. 2020
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Jill asks to speak with her alone after the ladies scold her and crack a few jokes about her Care Bears attire.
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Kyesha Jennings,
Vulture,
27 Oct. 2021
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This is not a bunch of people trying to scold for something that is a part of some kind of ideology.
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Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
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Someone else scolds the offender.
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Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
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That is the adage used to scold someone whose gaze is fixed on a particular subject a little too long.
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Jack Beresford,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
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Berrera-Kearns chimed in to scold Naessens on his usage of the word — while using it herself.
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Jessica Wang,
EW.com,
30 Dec. 2021
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Feeling the woman cupping his private area, the artist kneeled down and appeared to scold her, telling her to stop.
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Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
25 Nov. 2025
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Collins rescued a missing child at an airport and scolded police for not doing their jobs?
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David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
11 Aug. 2025
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During one of his first practices, Pronger scolded him for hitting the brakes on a two-on-one drill.
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Dan Robson,
New York Times,
25 Mar. 2026
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Halfway through his sentence, the president stopped to scold the disrupter.
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Charlotte Phillipp,
People.com,
25 Aug. 2025
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Fricker doesn’t scold people for recreational use of the waters.
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Sacramento Bee,
31 Jan. 2024
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Students sat in rows, making faces at each other, scolded by their teachers to behave.
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David Wilson,
Daily News,
7 Jan. 2026
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Guards with loudspeakers are quick to scold the noncompliant.
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New York Times,
17 Jan. 2022
- He can be a bit of a scold sometimes.
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But what gets lost in that mess is that journalists aren’t just naysayers and scolds.
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Robert Hackett,
Fortune,
27 Nov. 2019
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The letter, which is twice as long as the press release, is a masterpiece of pure scold.
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WSJ,
15 July 2018
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It should be noted that Carter has long been a Clinton scold and skeptic.
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Jeet Heer,
New Republic,
9 May 2017
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Insist on clear answers to these questions, and his defenders might call you a scold.
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Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
30 Oct. 2020
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In lesser hands, such a hero could be an insufferable scold, or alienating chaos agent.
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Emily Temple,
Literary Hub,
26 May 2026
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But analysts aren’t convinced that the United States will do much more than scold.
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Ishaan Tharoor,
Washington Post,
5 June 2019
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Lately, the scold has been ascendant, and some tech companies deserve a scolding and worse.
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Owen Thomas,
SFChronicle.com,
3 July 2019
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Considering how often progressives are portrayed as joyless scolds, this is a message that needs to get out more.
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Katha Pollitt,
New York Times,
25 Apr. 2018
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Who better to tackle this subject than history scold Phil Goodstein?
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Sandra Dallas,
The Denver Post,
13 June 2019
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And that can be stressful particularly since parents want their kids to have fun on Halloween while not being a scold or wet blanket.
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Meg Jones,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
10 Oct. 2017
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In Sacramento, Brown continued to act as the experienced, savvy adult and scold, keeping the left in line.
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George Skelton,
latimes.com,
18 Sep. 2017
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Even Blanchett’s Schlafly is a charismatic, unflappable bulldozer, not a self-righteous scold.
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Los Angeles Times,
15 Apr. 2020
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But, honestly, my comment is intended — and received — as a scold and sometimes embarrasses them, as others hear it.
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Judith Martin,
Washington Post,
6 Aug. 2020
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This is not to say Duncan is a scold or a left-puncher—his trajectory toward more radical forms of economic justice is clear.
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David Klion,
The New Republic,
20 Aug. 2021
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Meanwhile, Cosby became an elder statesman in the black community and at times a scold who, in one famous speech, didn't shrink from telling young men to pull up their pants.
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Corky Siemaszko,
NBC News,
18 June 2017
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With trigger-warning culture on the wane and a brutish permissiveness creeping back into society, corporate scolds have lost much of their power.
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Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
2 Sep. 2025
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Here, she's forced to play straight woman and scold to Schumer's raunchy free spirit, bumbling her way through life-or-death confrontations and her own budding cultural sensitivity.
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The Washington Post,
NOLA.com,
12 May 2017
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Seconds after their entire section overheard this gentle scold, a ball came soaring off the bat of Orioles catcher Pedro Severino.
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Andrew Beaton,
WSJ,
25 Apr. 2021
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At which point her little sister — ever the explainer, ever the scold — declared that in captivity, the dolphins’ signals bounce crazily off the walls; their capacity for echolocation drives them mad.
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Kerry Howley,
Daily Intelligencer,
22 Dec. 2017
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Out on the course, a pair of Eastern kingbirds pugnaciously defended territory against all comers, all the while giving their characteristic tinkling scold.
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Taylor Piephoff,
charlotteobserver,
6 June 2018
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Magda might have been introduced as a loveless scold on paper, but after ten years of playing her on television and in film, Lynn’s performance elevated Magda to an extension of Miranda’s family.
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Catherine Cusick,
Longreads,
10 Aug. 2020
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After trying out a shot in the fourth episode in which Kim smiled, barely perceptibly, while watching Jimmy pull off a stunt, the creators settled into the idea that her character wasn’t a scold but was turned on by Jimmy’s shenanigans — and could be a surprising and active ally.
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Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
15 Dec. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scold.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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