chide
Americanverb (used with object)
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chides,
present (3rd person singular)
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chided,
past participle, past
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chid,
past participle, past
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chidden,
past participle
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chiding
present participle
verb (used without object)
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chides,
present (3rd person singular)
-
chided,
past participle, past
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chid,
past participle, past
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chidden,
past participle
-
chiding
present participle
verb
-
to rebuke or scold
-
(tr) to goad into action
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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chidernoun
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outchideverb (used with object)
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unchidadjective
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unchiddenadjective
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unchidedadjective
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unchidingadjective
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chidinglyadverb
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unchidinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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chidesimple
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chidessimple
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have chidperfect
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have chiddenperfect
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have chidedperfect
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has chidperfect
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has chiddenperfect
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has chidedperfect
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am chidingprogressive
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are chidingprogressive
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is chidingprogressive
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have been chidingperfect progressive
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has been chidingperfect progressive
Past
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chidsimple
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chidedsimple
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had chidperfect
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had chiddenperfect
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had chidedperfect
-
was chidingprogressive
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were chidingprogressive
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had been chidingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of chide
before 1000; Middle English chiden, Old English cīdan
Explanation
To chide someone is to ride them or get on their case, without really getting in their face. People have been nagging since well before the 12th century, when the word chide came along as a new way to say "complain" or "rail." If you want to remind someone of a flaw they have or an error they keep repeating, you might chide them with sarcasm, humor, or some seriousness. Where a sharp elbow in the ribs lets you know "Stop it, right now!," a chide is more like a gentle elbow in the belly, saying "Come on, you're late; did you forget your watch again?"
Vocabulary lists containing chide
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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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:
But these days, he’s been attacking Pope Leo XIV, even going so far as to chide the pontiff to “to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
He suggested it had material useful to Iran’s war effort and seemed to chide China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
I was muted so much, athletes would chide me by pushing an imaginary button when I asked a question.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2025
While they often chide guests for not owning Apple—or enough Apple—they never blame anyone for shunning Nvidia.
From Slate ● Feb. 19, 2024
I chide myself for even getting into a situation like this.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Epstein advises him on the sale of his healthcare business, and chides him for not being careful enough in checking out the background of a new contact.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
“Jesus belongs to the Herdmans just as much as anyone else,” she chides her daughter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 8, 2024
Contemplating escaping Rome, she talks of buying an island; Marcello chides her: “Your problem is you have too much money.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 18, 2024
One of his hosts chides him for talking while he should be eating her excellent food, as anyone's mom would do.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2023
You knew this, Laia, a voice chides me.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
Ministers have said the policy, which could be worth as much as £20 a week per chid, was unaffordable and always time-limited.
From BBC ● Jan. 23, 2024
Fed up and enraged, the king angrily chid, “Wear your armor all day, like the dasypodid!”
From Washington Post ● Jul. 21, 2022
Bell’s current list of charities covers a staggering amount of ground: animal rights, prostate cancer, stem cell donation, Alzheimer’s disease, international child hunger, domestic chid poverty and young mothers raised in foster care.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 26, 2018
“My refusing to eat Flesh occasioned an Inconveniency,” Franklin later recalled, “and I was frequently chid for my singularity.”
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2014
She chid herself for the childish terrors in which she had indulged, and lest she should give way to them again she determined to take a decisive step.
From Starvecrow Farm by Stanley J. Weyman
Jack Caskey and Jerome Sperling, who would play significant roles on the Greek Desk, were chided for their rule-following, caution and seriousness, qualities that any sensible archaeologist might otherwise aspire to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
In the first week of trial, she chided Musk for recent posts to his social media platform X, in which he spoke disparagingly of OpenAI and Sam Altman, whom he referred to as "Scam Altman".
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
She knew what “The Muppet Show” star symbolized and recognized what she meant to her misfit youngest, a zaftig kid frequently chided for taking up too much space.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
We all make mistakes, but few of us are chided by the president of the United States or summoned to testify before a congressional committee as a result.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026
“Oh, honey. Not quite so much butter,” Mom chided.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
Helen Burns asked some slight question about her work of Miss Smith, was chidden for the triviality of the inquiry, returned to her place, and smiled at me as she again went by.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Ingratitude must be gently chidden, for it goes ill with beauty--as a mother gently chides a well-beloved one.
From The Maid of Honour, Vol. 1 (of 3) A Tale of the Dark Days of France by Lewis Wingfield
I would be chidden for a month rather than that you should lose this ball,—you would be so happy, and so much admired!'
From Discipline by Mary Brunton
Some twenty of us, including the chidden, but wholly unabashed soldiers, went at it in line, and, after the manner of stone-faced banks, it grew very tall as we approached it.
From Further Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Martin Ross
When chidden for his rashness, and what was thought a freak of passion, he answered that he never acted in a more cool and calculating spirit in his life.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 383, September 1847 by Various
We still play cards and games together while chiding each other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
The characters were pricklier and more restless than I remembered, and Alcott’s voice—good-natured but chiding, unsentimental—was a revelation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
One recent, pointed example drew on a speech from 2000, chiding people who lecture others but fail to preach by example.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2025
But it was Bowen Yang’s return as Chinese trade minister Chen Biao that won the night, chiding Americans over Trump’s ongoing trade war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2025
Despite the chiding words, her face was still and calm.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
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.
