rebuke

verb re·buke \ ri-ˈbyük \

|Updated on: 20 Jun 2018

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Examples: rebuke in a Sentence

Definition of rebuke

rebuked; rebuking

transitive verb

1 a : to criticize sharply : reprimand

b : to serve as a rebuke to

2 : to turn back or keep down : check

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rebuker

noun

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Examples of rebuke in a Sentence

the father was forced to rebuke his son for the spendthrift ways he had adopted since arriving at college
strongly rebuked the girl for playing with matches

Recent Examples of rebuke from the Web

On Thursday, the Justice Department’s inspector general released a lengthy report that rebuked former FBI Director James Comey for deviating from departmental procedures during his probe into Clinton’s use of a private server for emails.

— kevin kelleher, Fortune, "Hillary Clinton Mocks James Comey in Response to Justice Department's Inspector General Report," 15 June 2018
Investors at Occidental Petroleum and ExxonMobil rebuked their respective corporate boards and voted to demand the companies produce reports on the business impacts of climate change.

— david s. rauf, Scientific American, "Powerful Investors Push Big Companies to Plan for Climate Change," 3 May 2018
Gonzalez, who has openly rebuked Trump and called for stricter gun laws in the country since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on Feb. 14 that killed 17 people, did not return West’s compliment.

— stephanie petit, PEOPLE.com, "Kanye West Calls Emma Gonzalez His 'Hero' — but She Dismisses It by Praising Waffle House Hero," 29 Apr. 2018
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced the new proposal in a statement that included a nod to Americans who rebuked the earlier plan.

— darryl fears, Philly.com, "Interior dramatically reverses proposal to raise some national park entry fees to $70," 12 Apr. 2018
The former New York City mayor, who recently joined Donald Trump’s legal team, on Friday tried to walk back his reckless media tour after being gently rebuked by the president.

— matt ford, The New Republic, "Rudy Giuliani is digging himself into a deeper hole.," 4 May 2018
The National Congress of American Indians, the largest bipartisan advocacy group for tribes, has repeatedly rebuked or expressed alarm with the administration.

— evan halper, latimes.com, "The Trump agenda has Native American tribes feeling under siege," 15 May 2018
So now Rudy has been publicly rebuked by Trump and his now-former law firm.

— jonathan chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Giuliani’s Law Firm Explains Law Doesn’t Work the Way Giuliani Says," 10 May 2018
She was chided for never achieving its critical and commercial success again, for changing her sound, for being frustrated that she had been rebuked for changing her sound.

— jessica bennett, BostonGlobe.com, "Liz Phair revisits the triumph and burden of ‘Guyville’," 3 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rebuke.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.