adjective
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full of or expressing reproach
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archaic deserving of reproach; disgraceful
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of reproachful
Explanation
Someone who's reproachful is deeply disapproving. A reproachful look on your mom's face is a sign that you've disappointed her and might be in trouble. When you criticize your friend's decision to borrow her parents' car without asking, you probably sound reproachful. You might not even need to speak — a reproachful glance is sometimes enough to communicate your disapproval. When you reproach someone, you express disappointment in them, and to be reproachful is to be "full of reproach." The root word is the Old French reproche, "blame, shame, or disgrace."
Vocabulary lists containing reproachful
Power Suffix: -ful
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"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Catching Fire
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One of the girls, Lily, starts crying, and the camera pans to Chloe as she pulls a reproachful face.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2021
Freddie is both drawn and resistant to the movement, violently reproachful of those who question its tenets yet unable to attain its promised enlightenment.
From Washington Post • Oct. 20, 2020
At its centre is Makiko, an ageing bar hostess and single mother to Midoriko, her reproachful adolescent daughter, who will only communicate with her in writing.
From The Guardian • Aug. 18, 2020
For the rest of the trip, I went barefaced and endured the reproachful glares of my fellow shoppers.
From The Verge • Apr. 8, 2020
Elinor cleared her throat and gave Mo a reproachful glance, as if it could only be his fault that his daughter was precocious enough to know such things.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
