There’s a new column in the NYT called The Upside, giving us just-the-good-news-please, so you don’t get a queasy quiver every time you read the news which is mostly nasty or scarey and down, not up. So I’m looking for things to make us smile. Soon I’ll whip through a bunch of words I have recently read - always good for a respite with no recriminations or —-
I was trying to think of another word that implies scolding, something to be avoided—in a dictionary search, but I looked up the thesaurus for scold and oh, the treasure! I have to share it:
scold verb: Mum took Anna away, scolding her for her bad behaviour:
rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reprove, admonish, remonstrate with, chastise, chide, upbraid, berate, take to task, pull up, castigate, lambaste, read someone the Riot Act, give someone a piece of one's mind, go on at, haul over the coals, criticize, censure; informal tell off, give someone a talking-to, give someone a telling-off, dress down, give someone a dressing-down, give someone an earful, give someone a roasting, give someone a rocket, give someone a rollicking, rap, rap over the knuckles, slap someone's wrist, let someone have it, send someone away with a flea in their ear, bawl out, give someone hell, come down on, blow up, pitch into, lay into, lace into, give someone a caning, put on the mat, slap down, blast, rag, keelhaul; Brit. informal tick off, have a go at, carpet, monster, give someone a mouthful, tear someone off a strip, (SHOULDN’T THIS BE TEAR A STRIIP OFF SOMEONE?) give someone what for, give someone some stick, wig, give someone a wigging, give someone a row, row; N. Amer. informal chew out, ream out, take to the woodshed; Brit. vulgar slang bollock, give someone a bollocking; N. Amer. vulgar slang chew someone's ass, ream someone's ass; dated call down, rate, give someone a rating, trim; rare reprehend, objurgate. ANTONYMS praise, compliment.
noun archaic she is turning into a scold: nag, nagger, shrew, fishwife, harpy, termagant, harridan; complainer, moaner, grumbler, fault-finder, carper; N. Amer. informal kvetch; rare Xanthippe.
Lovely! Enjoy!