as in scolds
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
there's no need to berate someone for making a mistake during the first day on the job
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Recent Examples of berates
And Vance berates Democrats in a visit to Minneapolis.
—
Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 23 Jan. 2026
Cast members performed on The Tonight Show and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a sketch in which host Bad Bunny berates his friends for failing to grasp the movie’s brilliance.
—Eliza Berman, Time, 9 Dec. 2025
The president publicly berates reporters — often female ones — for cheap laughs several times a week, and is met with little more than shrugs.
—Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Oct. 2025
In another clip, his mother berates Pormanove over the phone for letting the co-streamers shave off parts of his hair.
—Philippe Cordier, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2025
Kayla Hayempour, NBC news, 23 Jan. 2026
Cast members performed on The Tonight Show and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a sketch in which host Bad Bunny berates his friends for failing to grasp the movie’s brilliance.
—Eliza Berman, Time, 9 Dec. 2025
The president publicly berates reporters — often female ones — for cheap laughs several times a week, and is met with little more than shrugs.
—Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Oct. 2025
In another clip, his mother berates Pormanove over the phone for letting the co-streamers shave off parts of his hair.
—Philippe Cordier, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for berates
Verb
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On our hike, Jessie Krebs scolds her boots for sliding on a slick, house-size boulder.—
Andrew McKean,
Outdoor Life,
19 Mar. 2026
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While some online scolds didn’t like Johnson’s profanity, this has played well in Chicago, a city that has been ravenous for a winning Bears team since the 20th Super Bowl.—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Verb
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His supervisor appears as a ticket conductor and reprimands him for doing nothing.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Schiavo raised a similar concern, noting that the National Transportation Safety Board regularly criticizes the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulators for not implementing obvious solutions, even after accidents occur.—
Zach Wichter,
USA Today,
25 Mar. 2026
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Gigerenzer criticizes them as ethically problematic and argues that public policy should emphasize education over subtle choice manipulation.—
Alejandro Hortal-Sánchez,
The Conversation,
24 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The van’s speakers played a high-volume mashup of construction sounds, Jordan Peterson lectures, Marine Corps drills, and mumbling voices.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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Assistive listening studies report that bypassing room acoustics and delivering audio directly can improve signal‑to‑noise ratios by 15–20 dB, making announcements comprehensible and lectures clearer [8].—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
26 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Jones blames that impasse for kicking the financial stability of TSA officers like a football.—
Marvin Hurst,
CBS News,
31 Mar. 2026
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Papperger blames the delays on Ukrainian bureaucracy.—
Simon Shuster,
The Atlantic,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Berates.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/berates. Accessed 1 Apr. 2026.
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