earful
Americannoun
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an outpouring of oral information or advice, especially when given without solicitation.
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a sharp verbal rebuke; a scolding.
noun
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something heard or overheard
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a rebuke or scolding, esp a lengthy or severe one
Spelling
See -ful.
Etymology
Origin of earful
Explanation
When you give someone an earful, you angrily tell the person what you think. Your teacher might give the class an earful when no one has finished yesterday's homework. The informal word earful is good for describing a lengthy reprimand or angry criticism. A furious senator might give her colleagues an earful when they can't reach a compromise, and a frustrated father might give his kids an earful after losing track of them in a busy shopping mall. Earful was first used in the mid-1900's, from the Old English roots eare, or "ear," and the suffix ful, "full or full of."
Vocabulary lists containing earful
Front Desk
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Amari and the Night Brothers
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The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
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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.
Pap was surely not amused by Savage’s party; he’d already gotten an earful about the previous night’s shenanigans.
From Slate • Jan. 13, 2026
Ask any basketball coach you know and they’ll give you an earful about the attrition of whole-court vision and underappreciated talents like moving without the ball.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
Wondering why his 83-year-old father, Hep, would choose to fly to Los Angeles for UCLA’s Tuesday game against Minnesota that’s not exactly billed as a showdown, Mick received a sarcastic earful.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2025
I was about to get an earful on the book’s background and a postage-paid primer on my own writing life.
From Salon • Feb. 9, 2025
There was no way Harry was going to let an influential gentleman like yourself come through the village without giving you his usual earful.'
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
