scold
[skohld]
- to find fault with angrily; chide; reprimand: The teacher scolded me for being late.
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- to find fault; reprove.
- to use abusive language.
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- a person who is constantly scolding, often with loud and abusive speech.
- common scold.
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Origin of scold
1150–1200; (noun) Middle English, variant of scald < Old Norse skald poet (as author of insulting poems); see skald; (v.) Middle English scolden, derivative of the noun
Synonyms
See more synonyms for scold on Thesaurus.com1. reprove; censure. See reproach.
Antonyms
1. praise.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for scolded
Contemporary Examples
“You can laugh out there,” he scolded his tormenters, his Boston accent becoming more pronounced.
Jimmy Carter scolded Americans for their “inordinate fear of communism.”
“For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction,” Kerry scolded.
I've been scolded for making gestures and looking too "deaf."
Another time, before he wrote his treatise on Atheism, he scolded me for believing in God.
Historical Examples
Do you not recollect that only two months ago you scolded me, and ridiculed my plans?
The DreamEmile Zola
That he should be so scolded and badly treated was not the best for him.
What Sami Sings with the BirdsJohanna Spyri
He had no love in his heart, so he drove and scolded all the time.
Opera Stories from WagnerFlorence Akin
"You oughtn't to carry the thing about with you, if it's so important," I scolded her.
It Happened in EgyptC. N. Williamson
Martha had been in once, and had been scolded for her pains.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
scold
- to find fault with or reprimand (a person) harshly; chide
- (intr) to use harsh or abusive language
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- a person, esp a woman, who constantly finds fault
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Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse skald
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for scolded
scold
n.
mid-12c., "person of ribald speech," later "person fond of abusive language" (c.1300), especially a shrewish woman [Johnson defines it as "A clamourous, rude, mean, low, foul-mouthed woman"], from Old Norse skald "poet" (see skald). The sense evolution might reflect the fact that Germanic poets (like their Celtic counterparts) were famously feared for their ability to lampoon and mock (e.g. skaldskapr "poetry," also, in Icelandic law books, "libel in verse").
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scold
v.
late 14c., "be abusive or quarrelsome," from scold (n.). Related: Scolded; scolding.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper