admonished
Americanadjective
-
rebuked or reminded of one’s duty, especially in a mild manner or with good will.
As she spoke, the employee looked down and kicked the dirt like an admonished child.
Tears came not from the admonished four-year-old who had destroyed the elaborate sandcastle, but from my dad, who had built it.
-
cautioned or advised against something; warned.
A previously admonished person entering the premises without the owner’s written authorization shall be deemed to be trespassing.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of admonished
First recorded in 1590–1600; admonish ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. ) for the adjective senses; admonish ( def. ) + -ed 1 ( def. ) for the verb sense
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.
Keaton reportedly confronted the teenage fans and admonished them during the game.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Yitzhak Rabin admonished his country to “fight terrorism as if there’s no peace process, and work to achieve peace as if there’s no terror.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 5, 2026
Or, as Patchett’s mother once admonished after the failure of her daughter’s first marriage: “Stop trying to make everything permanent. It doesn’t work.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
“We can never recapture the purchasing power of the dollar that has been lost,” the chairman admonished his colleagues in August 1955—even as the consumer-price index registered a rare, small year-over-year decline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
“Then I suggest you begin at once,” admonished the Dodecahedron from his admonishing face, “for here in Digitopolis everything is quite precise.”
From "The Phantom Tollbooth" by Norton Juster
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.
