as in reprimands
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
he scolded the kids for not cleaning up the mess they had made in the kitchen
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Recent Examples of scolds
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
Inspired by This Is Spinal Tap, Cundieff makes quick work of lambasting the casual misogyny and homophobia ingrained in hardcore rap, but also of the media scolds unable to parse the message of the music.
—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 June 2026
Stumbling on to this ruse, Antoine’s friend and manager Armand (Gilles Lellouche) immediately can tell Suzanne is a fake and scolds her for exploiting his friend’s grief.
—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
12 May 2026
Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.
—
Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
McMahon likes to remind scolds that wrestling is a morality play.
—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
This cross-partisan skit is refreshing and the only people who might hate it are Cuomo supporters and maybe some woke scolds.
—
Andrew Stanton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
On our hike, Jessie Krebs scolds her boots for sliding on a slick, house-size boulder.
—
Andrew McKean,
Outdoor Life,
19 Mar. 2026
While some online scolds didn’t like Johnson’s profanity, this has played well in Chicago, a city that has been ravenous for a winning Bears team since the 20th Super Bowl.
—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
Someone else scolds the offender.
—
Judith Martin,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
Inspired by This Is Spinal Tap, Cundieff makes quick work of lambasting the casual misogyny and homophobia ingrained in hardcore rap, but also of the media scolds unable to parse the message of the music.
—
Lauren Huff,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 June 2026
Stumbling on to this ruse, Antoine’s friend and manager Armand (Gilles Lellouche) immediately can tell Suzanne is a fake and scolds her for exploiting his friend’s grief.
—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
12 May 2026
Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.
—
Annie Lowrey,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
McMahon likes to remind scolds that wrestling is a morality play.
—
Zach Helfand,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
This cross-partisan skit is refreshing and the only people who might hate it are Cuomo supporters and maybe some woke scolds.
—
Andrew Stanton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Mar. 2026
On our hike, Jessie Krebs scolds her boots for sliding on a slick, house-size boulder.
—
Andrew McKean,
Outdoor Life,
19 Mar. 2026
While some online scolds didn’t like Johnson’s profanity, this has played well in Chicago, a city that has been ravenous for a winning Bears team since the 20th Super Bowl.
—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scolds
Verb
-
The emperor reprimands her for being late for the rainmaking ritual.
-
His supervisor appears as a ticket conductor and reprimands him for doing nothing.
Noun
-
Alas, nitpickers can point to some moves in which Atlanta went backward.
-
Maybe that’s why, compared with some other kinds of nitpickers, pop critics can seem especially extraneous.
Verb
-
Today’s successful downtowns rely on a mix of ingredients, said Steven Falk, the former city manager of Lafayette, who’s served as an interim city executive in Oakland and Richmond and who lectures at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.
-
Bad teams are given mechanisms to recover, not lectures about bootstraps.
Noun
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Some critics contend that changes to both the structure of the energy industry and transmission systems make an incentive unnecessary.
-
Some critics on social media counter that the gatherings risk turning spirituality into spectacle, performance and commodity all at once.
Verb
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The couple has been targeted by a group called Boycott Divest Zabludowicz, which criticizes them for supporting a pro-Israel lobby.
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That letter, referenced in the Brandeis Center complaint, criticizes the APA for failing to discipline a former division president, Lara Sheehi, for various incendiary comments about Zionism.
Verb
-
The nonprofit blames the lack of progress on government red tape and diminishing federal funding to provide subsidies and incentives.
-
Industry, like tobacco companies, turns a blind eye to the problem, continues its mass production to achieve maximum profit and blames the consumer for bad choices.
Verb
-
Judge admonishes Musk over social media use Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI’s charitable arm.
-
Deeply religious, Jean’s mother, in the film, admonishes her.
Verb
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And Vance berates Democrats in a visit to Minneapolis.
-
Cast members performed on The Tonight Show and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a sketch in which host Bad Bunny berates his friends for failing to grasp the movie’s brilliance.
Cite this Entry
“Scolds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scolds. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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