berate
Americanverb (used with object)
-
berates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
berated,
past participle, past
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berating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beratesimple
-
beratessimple
-
have beratedperfect
-
has beratedperfect
-
am beratingprogressive
-
are beratingprogressive
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is beratingprogressive
-
have been beratingperfect progressive
-
has been beratingperfect progressive
Past
-
beratedsimple
-
had beratedperfect
-
was beratingprogressive
-
were beratingprogressive
-
had been beratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of berate
Explanation
A strong verb for harshly cutting someone down with words is berate. "He didn't just correct the cashier who gave him the wrong change — he started to berate her, calling her names in front of the whole store." When you berate someone, you do more than just raise your voice at them; berate implies putting someone down by insulting their character. This word comes from a 16th-century English and French root meaning "to scold or blame." Often the anger behind the scolding seems over-the-top, as in "When the young man behind the counter dropped the scoop of vanilla, the manager berated him excessively by declaring him worthless and weak."
Vocabulary lists containing berate
Instead of "Said": Vexed Verbiage to Express Anger
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Refugee
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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.
See Examples For:
He added that once Arday had resigned, "What's the public interest in continuing to berate him?"
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
But the pop singer said she did not send a security guard to berate them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
Within DHS, Noem and Lewandowski frequently berate senior level staff, give polygraph tests to employees they don’t trust and have fired employees—in one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
If you berate yourself for what you deem parenting mistakes, don’t let it eat away at you.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 2, 2025
Perhaps he would berate me for my clumsy theory.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
In Season 1, Deborah berates her daughter about her lack of a prenup in a very public birthday dinner speech, but then reluctantly attends her drive-thru wedding via FaceTime.
From Salon ● May 16, 2025
We also see a previously unaired video of Stewart, recorded at home a few weeks before her sentencing in 2004, in which she berates an employee for using the wrong knife to slice oranges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2024
The clip, released on Monday, shows three Israeli women, one of whom berates Mr Netanyahu and calls for the release of the hostages.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2023
Before you think I’m that neighbor, one who complains about the kid’s basketball rolling into my flower bed, or who berates people for leaving their trash bin out past trash day, I’m not.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 23, 2023
After Mother berates me about finding a husband every other day, I have to sleep in a wedding cake.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
Judge Subramanian berated both sides for their failure to swiftly disclose the deal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
But none of the other journalists in the Oval Office with Holmes spoke up as the president berated her.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
He berated city leaders for not doing enough to get unhoused people off the streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has openly berated reporters during Pentagon briefings for using headlines the administration dislikes.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2026
When the train passed he pushed himself away from the pole where he had been leaning, berated me for making all that noise and said, “Let’s go home.”
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
And he was angry, berating Kingsley for giving Cretton a hard time and proclaiming how much he wanted to be in this new movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Then as now, Martin chose a polite but firm approach to Trump, who spent much of the question-and-answer session berating US allies for rebuffing his calls to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
From Barron's ● Mar. 17, 2026
Despite Egadze scoring only 154.79 for the free skate - 27 points lower than his season best - there was no berating.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2026
Since Takaichi’s remark on Taiwan in November, Beijing’s retaliation has included berating Tokyo at the United Nations, canceling flights to Japan and tightening export controls on goods with potential military uses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 13, 2026
Then she went over to the couch and woke him up and started berating him for nearly burning the house down.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
