upbraid

[uhp-breyd]

verb (used with object)

1. to find fault with or reproach severely; censure.

   The military tribunal upbraided the soldier for his cowardice.

   Synonyms: blame, reprove

2. (of things) to bring reproach on; serve as a reproach to.

verb (used without object)

1. Archaic.,  to utter reproaches.

upbraid

/ ʌpˈbreɪd /

verb

1. to reprove or reproach angrily

2. to find fault with

Other Word Forms

• upbraider noun
• unupbraided adjective
• upbraiding noun
• upbraidingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of upbraid¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English upbrēdan to adduce as a fault. See up-, braid

Word History and Origins

Origin of upbraid¹

Old English upbregdan; related to Danish bebreide; see _up , _braid

Synonym Study

See reprimand.

Example Sentences

But one day a close friend upbraided me for shunning Black Friday, insisting that such antisocial tightfistedness was inherently un-American.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Following an uproar, that action was reversed within a day, but it raised suspicions that it was undertaken to punish Mainers for their Democratic governor’s public upbraiding of Trump at a Washington meeting.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Even as the ex-president got a bond reduced in New York, Judge Juan M. Merchan set a trial date in the hush money case, upbraided the defense and imposed a gag order.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In a tense phone call on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III upbraided his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, over Israel’s deadly attack on a humanitarian food convoy in Gaza earlier this week.

Read more on New York Times

That sort of upbraiding from a judge before trial has even begun should chill any trial lawyer to the bone.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• admonish 
• berate 
• castigate 
• chastise 
• chide 
• reprimand 
• reproach