as in to scold
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
got bawled out by the boss for missing another important deadline
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Recent Examples of bawl out
Trippier and Burn are organisers and not afraid to bawl out their team-mates.
—
George Caulkin, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
Women stopped to bawl out the police, who accepted this dressing-down with quiet embarrassment.
—National Geographic, 11 Aug. 2020
George Caulkin, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
Women stopped to bawl out the police, who accepted this dressing-down with quiet embarrassment.
—National Geographic, 11 Aug. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bawl out
Verb
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Leon scolded Justice Department attorneys for arguing that the entire project needed to go forward for national security reasons, before previously distinguishing between the bunker below ground and the ballroom above ground.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
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Government officials scolded young people for the signs of disrespect.—
Justin Spike,
Los Angeles Times,
14 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Ratmoko is also a photographer, writer, and scholar who has lectured on intercultural communication schools including Yale University and the University of Zurich.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
11 Apr. 2026
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During orientation, new hires are lectured that Kino wants to protect users from harmful images; meanwhile, their boss, Josh (Jermaine Fowler), would cut out his own spleen on camera to keep people’s eyeballs on the app.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Investigations by the House Ethics Committee typically precede floor action to reprimand or expel members.—
Kaia Hubbard,
CBS News,
13 Apr. 2026
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He got formally reprimanded by the House, thanks to a resolution introduced by a fellow Democrat, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.—
Michelle Cottle,
Mercury News,
9 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Many Millennials and Gen Zers expressly blame the Boomers for that, accusing them of hoarding wealth, jobs, and power.—
Idrees Kahloon,
The Atlantic,
13 Apr. 2026
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Many housing advocates blamed Wall Street firms buying up homes for a post-pandemic surge in housing costs.—
Samantha Delouya,
CNN Money,
13 Apr. 2026
Verb
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True freshman receiver Hayden Moore from has been an early surprise challenger for first-team reps in spring ball, but the Gainesville, Fla., native, who just left high school, was chewed out and then subbed off for messing up early in Tuesday’s practice.—
Andy Greder,
Twin Cities,
15 Apr. 2026
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Instead of the standard chewing out, the senior played a clip of his freshman defensive back counterpart recognizing a screen, shedding a block and securing the first solo tackle of his career against No. 5 Georgia last week.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
10 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Wolves coach Chris Finch criticized his team’s lack of composure.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
19 Apr. 2026
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One of the easier things to do is criticize without offering solutions.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
19 Apr. 2026
Verb
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At another point, NASA astronaut and Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman called down to Earth to NASA’s IT specialists on the ground to report that both versions of Microsoft’s email program Outlook installed on his computer were not working.—
Noah Haggerty,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Apr. 2026
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Ming opened up her fourth floor window and called down to the firefighters below.—
Kate Talerico,
San Francisco Chronicle,
19 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Bawl out.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bawl%20out. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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