dress down
verbDefinition of dress down
: to reprove severely
: to dress casually especially for reasons of fashion
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Synonyms for dress down
Synonyms
baste, bawl out, berate, call down, castigate, chastise, chew out, flay, hammer, jaw, keelhaul, lambaste (or lambast), lecture, rag, rail (at or against), rant (at), rate, ream (out), rebuke, reprimand, reproach, scold, score, tongue-lash, upbraid
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Examples of dress down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Instead of designers issuing seasonal laws, the power has shifted to the people, who are dressing up or dressing down, but most importantly dressing for themselves. — Steff Yotka, Vogue, "The Top 10 Accessories Trends of Spring 2019," 16 Oct. 2018 Mudroom or playroom-ready lockers from Mustard in fun colors make dressing down or clearing up a quick process. — Carisha Swanson, House Beautiful, "Go Inside The London Design Festival, AKA Fashion Week For Decor Addicts," 2 Oct. 2018 The passion for fairness and justice extended to our own military: When a private was poorly equipped, John enjoyed nothing more than dressing down an admiral or general. — Caroline Houck, Vox, "George W. Bush honors McCain as “unwavering, undimmed, unequal”," 1 Sep. 2018 The passion for fairness and justice extended to our own military when a private was poorly seaman was overworked in terrible conditions, John enjoyed nothing more than dressing down an admiral or a general. — Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, "Read the Full Transcript of George W. Bush's Eulogy for John McCain," 1 Sep. 2018 After days of being dressed down by the judge overseeing the Paul Manafort case, federal prosecutors sought Thursday to put their foot down -- filing a motion complaining that Judge T.S. Ellis III had unfairly admonished them in front of the jury. — Peter Doocy, Fox News, "Mueller team files complaint against Manafort trial judge over latest reprimand," 9 Aug. 2018 Normcore An April article in the New York Times highlighted fashion's fixation on dressing down and heralded its name to the masses as #normcore. — Kerry Pieri, Harper's BAZAAR, "The Year in Terminology: 2014," 5 Dec. 2014 Bespoke suiting soon expanded to custom denim, due to a West Coast clientele that wanted versatile ways to dress down their suiting pieces. — Catie Nienaber, San Francisco Chronicle, "Kipper Clothiers finds the perfect fit with LGBTQ audience," 31 May 2018 But the State Department’s Thursday dressing down is unlikely to upset relations between the two countries, political analysts and diplomats say. — James Hookway, WSJ, "U.S. Criticizes Ally Vietnam Over Lengthy Prison Terms for Dissidents," 5 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dress down.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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