Adjacent Words

Scold definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCOLD, v.i.
To find fault or rail with rude clamor; to brawl; to utter railing or harsh, rude, boisterous rebuke; with at; as, to scold at a servant. A scolding tongue, a scolding wife, a scolding husband, a scolding master, who can endure?
Pardon me, 'tis the first time that ever I'm forc'd to scold.
SCOLD, v.t. To chide with rudeness and boisterous clamor; to rate. [The transitive use of this word is of recent origin, at least within my knowledge.]
SCOLD, n.
1. A rude, clamorous, foul-mouthed woman.
Scolds answer foul-mouth'd scolds.
2. A scolding; a brawl.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault [syn: scold, scolder, nag, nagger, common scold] v
1: censure severely or angrily; "The mother scolded the child for entering a stranger's car"; "The deputy ragged the Prime Minister"; "The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup" [syn: call on the carpet, take to task, rebuke, rag, trounce, reproof, lecture, reprimand, jaw, dress down, call down, scold, chide, berate, bawl out, remonstrate, chew out, chew up, have words, lambaste, lambast]
2: show one's unhappiness or critical attitude; "He scolded about anything that he thought was wrong"; "We grumbled about the increased work load" [syn: grouch, grumble, scold]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English scald, scold, perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse sk?ld poet, skald, Icelandic sk?lda to make scurrilous verse Date: 12th century 1. a. one who scolds habitually or persistently b. a woman who disturbs the public peace by noisy and quarrelsome or abusive behavior 2. scolding II. verb Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. obsolete to quarrel noisily 2. to find fault noisily or angrily transitive verb to censure severely or angrily ; rebuke • scolder noun Synonyms: scold, upbraid, berate, rail, revile, vituperate mean to reproach angrily and abusively. scold implies rebuking in irritation or ill temper justly or unjustly <angrily scolding the children>. upbraid implies censuring on definite and usually justifiable grounds <upbraided her assistants for poor research>. berate suggests prolonged and often abusive scolding <berated continually by an overbearing boss>. rail (at or against) stresses an unrestrained berating <railed loudly at their insolence>. revile implies a scurrilous, abusive attack prompted by anger or hatred <an alleged killer reviled in the press>. vituperate suggests a violent reviling <was vituperated for betraying his friends>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. rebuke (esp. a child, employee, or inferior). 2 intr. find fault noisily; complain; rail. --n. archaic a nagging or grumbling woman. Derivatives: scolder n. scolding n. Etymology: ME (earlier as noun), prob. f. ON skáld SKALD

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scold Scold, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Scolded; p. pr. & vb. n. Scolding.] [Akin to D. schelden, G. schelten, OHG. sceltan, Dan. skielde.] To find fault or rail with rude clamor; to brawl; to utter harsh, rude, boisterous rebuke; to chide sharply or coarsely; -- often with at; as, to scold at a servant. Pardon me, lords, 't is the first time ever I was forced to scold. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scold Scold, v. t. To chide with rudeness and clamor; to rate; also, to rebuke or reprove with severity.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scold Scold, n. 1. One who scolds, or makes a practice of scolding; esp., a rude, clamorous woman; a shrew. She is an irksome, brawling scold. --Shak. 2. A scolding; a brawl.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(scolds, scolding, scolded) If you scold someone, you speak angrily to them because they have done something wrong. (FORMAL) If he finds out, he'll scold me... Later she scolded her daughter for having talked to her father like that... 'You should be at school,' he scolded. VERB: V n, V n for n, V with quote

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Berate, rate, censure, reprimand, blame, chide, find fault with, brawl, rebuke rudely. II. v. n. Rate, reprimand, vituperate, brawl, rail, chide with rudeness. III. n. 1. Vixen, shrew, termagant, virago. 2. Scolding, brawl.

Moby Thesaurus

Xanthippe, admonish, amazon, baste, battle-ax, bawl out, beldam, belittler, berate, bitch, blame, blister, brace, bring to book, cackle, call, call to account, captious critic, carol, carper, carpet, castigate, cat, caviler, caw, censor, censure, censurer, chastise, chatter, cheep, chew, chew out, chide, chirk, chirp, chirr, chirrup, chitter, chuck, clack, cluck, cock-a-doodle-doo, common scold, coo, correct, critic, criticize, criticizer, croak, cronk, crow, cuckoo, denounce, dress down, drum, excoriate, execrate, faultfinder, fishwife, frondeur, fury, gabble, gaggle, gobble, grill, grouch, grouse, grunt, guggle, harass, harpy, harridan, have words with, honk, hoo, hoot, hound, jaw, lash, lecture, mob, momus, murmur, mutter, nag, nitpicker, objurgate, ogress, peep, pettifogger, pip, pipe, quack, quibbler, rag, rail, rant, rate, ream out, rebuke, reprehend, reprimand, reproach, reprobate, reprove, revile, roll, row, set down, set straight, she-devil, she-wolf, shrew, sing, smellfungus, spank, spitfire, squawk, straighten out, take down, take to task, tell off, termagant, tigress, tongue, tongue-lash, trill, tweet, twit, twitter, upbraid, virago, vituperate, vixen, warble, whistle, wig, witch