reprove
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See reproach.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
reprovesimple
-
reprovessimple
-
have reprovedperfect
-
has reprovedperfect
-
am reprovingprogressive
-
are reprovingprogressive
-
is reprovingprogressive
-
have been reprovingperfect progressive
-
has been reprovingperfect progressive
Past
-
reprovedsimple
-
had reprovedperfect
-
was reprovingprogressive
-
were reprovingprogressive
-
had been reprovingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reprove
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English reproven, from Old French reprover, from Late Latin reprobāre, equivalent to re- re- + probāre “to test,” ( see prove)
Explanation
If you get into trouble and are sent to the principal’s office, be prepared for the principal to reprove you for your behavior. To reprove is to scold, reprimand, or — in plain English — “chew out.” Reprove is a verb used in the same way as “scold,” or “dress down.” To reprove is to express your dissatisfaction or disapproval with something. It’s a less severe word than denounce or decry. It is closer to the verb criticize. Your parents might reprove you for a minor offense like not cleaning your room or chewing with your mouth open. And, for the record, reprove is not the root word prove with the prefix re- as if to mean “prove again.” If you use it that way, someone would likely reprove you.
Vocabulary lists containing reprove
"Of Plymouth Plantation," Vocabulary from the historical account
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100 SAT words Beginning with "R"
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"Uprising," Vocabulary from the historical novel
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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:
“I always feel like you have to reprove yourself,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 24, 2024
Alone, I reprove the thought as fantasy, a secret desire to sever myself from the man who has abandoned me twice.
From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2021
Everyone on Capitol Hill is focused on squeezing months worth of work into several days, so the panel’s decision to clear two members and reprove two others was like an end-of-the-year document dump.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 11, 2014
So you’ve got to really prove and reprove yourself over and over and over again just to get an opportunity.
From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2012
V. Yet with his courage and his power Combined such sweetness and such love, He could revere the simplest flower, The vilest sinners firm reprove.
From Life Without and Life Within or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and poems. by Fuller, Margaret
“I could do without becoming known as the man who has a hugger for a son,” he reproves when Cal tries to embrace him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
Jack’s shoulders are slumped forward, his arms crossed, while John’s maternal aunt Annie reproves him with an extended finger.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2018
Your reviewer reproves me for "sardonic excesses," saying I am "capable of snapping that a man with a dicebox might grant and deny paroles as fairly as most boards."
From Time Magazine Archive
And the author gently reproves old computer hands irritated by the latest category of social bore, the newly minted fanatic.
From Time Magazine Archive
Who reproves in love and sadness Is like him, in days of gladness, Who pours balsam over me That by Jordan floweth free.
From Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs Translated by John Kelly by Gerhardt, Paul
Mr. Meadows was also reproved by the House Ethics Committee in 2018 for mishandling sexual harassment allegations against a top aide.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2020
Both lawmakers were reproved by the Ethics Committee.”
From Fox News ● Nov. 16, 2018
“We must all take responsibility for using facts correctly and for verifying anything we spread,” Stefan Lofven, the Swedish prime minister, reproved Trump at a news conference.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2017
He was immediately reproved by scores of his readers, as well as by a commentary in The Economist, “The World Is His Parking Spot,” that applied basic social cost-benefit analysis.
From New York Times ● Jul. 4, 2011
“Bad, bad penguin!” reproved Mrs. Popper, glaring down at Captain Cook.
From "Mr. Popper's Penguins" by Florence Atwater and Richard Atwater
“There is no part of the country where opinion is narrower than it is here,” Mr. Brooke tells a reproving neighbor, Mrs. Cadwallader, the rector’s wife.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 21, 2019
Today, she looks thin but healthy, her eyes radiating a quizzical alertness that can be almost unsettling when she occasionally fixes you with a slightly reproving stare.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2018
But she does put it to coolly subversive use. At social gatherings she turns her grin into a shield, a mask of contentment that can clench, without warning, into a reproving stare.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2017
I was the first one to giggle, and on my second giggle I got a sternly reproving look from the man sitting ahead of me.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2015
Cass jumped excitedly at the prospect, but Penelope threw her a reproving look.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
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.
