as in to scold
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
dressed down for boorish behavior at the dance
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Recent Examples of dress down
Where Volodymyr Zelensky was essentially kicked out of the White House after being dressed down in the Oval Office, Ramaphosa held his ground.
—
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, New York Times, 21 May 2025
Merely getting to a point where Ukrainian and Russian officials could sit at the same table took an excruciating amount of time and effort, including an Oval Office dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and bilateral conversations between the Americans and the Russians.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 June 2025
King Charles warmly greeted President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support at his estate on the North Sea coast just two days after his extraordinary dressing down by President Trump at the White House.
—Brian Melley, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2025
He’s continued to use that language in office, speaking favorably of Putin while publicly dressing down Zelensky.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dress down
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, New York Times, 21 May 2025
Merely getting to a point where Ukrainian and Russian officials could sit at the same table took an excruciating amount of time and effort, including an Oval Office dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and bilateral conversations between the Americans and the Russians.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 June 2025
King Charles warmly greeted President Volodymyr Zelensky in a show of support at his estate on the North Sea coast just two days after his extraordinary dressing down by President Trump at the White House.
—Brian Melley, Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2025
He’s continued to use that language in office, speaking favorably of Putin while publicly dressing down Zelensky.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 4 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dress down
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dress down
Verb
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Paul Krugman has referred to deficit hawks as ‘deficit scolds’, because the spend more time warning about the dangers of the deficit than fixing it.—
Mike O'Sullivan,
Forbes.com,
28 June 2025
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Musk and Gor reportedly clashed in Cabinet meetings where Musk scolded Gor over personnel disagreements in recent months.—
Ally Goelz,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Nonetheless, the missing performers were lectured by Richard Grenell, Trump’s new president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—a man with, inevitably, no experience in any of them—that performers must perform for people of all political parties.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 June 2025
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At the Cooper Union in New York in November, Sumner again lectured on Adams’s theory, while a group of Republicans and radical abolitionists sat behind his podium on the stage.—
Zaakir Tameez
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Verb
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That brief timeline likely means that Combs — who has been reprimanded by Judge Arun Subramanian for nodding at jurors while his defense attorneys cross-examine government witnesses — will not take the stand.—
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento,
NPR,
24 June 2025
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But Pitt later said in an interview with GQ in 2024 that Alcoholics Anonymous reprimanded him for talking about his experience with the group publicly.—
Brendan Morrow,
USA Today,
16 June 2025
Verb
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Around that same time, Schuyler was called down to Albany to help negotiate a treaty with a group of Native Americans, leaving Brigadier General Richard Montgomery in charge of his forces.—
Eli Wizevich,
Smithsonian Magazine,
12 May 2025
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But the game changer, a change in field practices that drove use of force on crisis calls down by 68% over a four-year period, was a different type of training — a mandatory one that Anderson helped craft.—
CalMatters,
Mercury News,
5 May 2025
Verb
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Partly to blame is high inflation, claimed Bankrate, which has increased by about 24% since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
24 June 2025
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The lawsuit alleges the Tesla’s design was to blame for the car swerving out of its lane and not braking correctly, according to Reuters.—
Brian Niemietz,
New York Daily News,
24 June 2025
Verb
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Instances when the coach chewed out the quarterback for being late on a throw.—
Brad Biggs,
Chicago Tribune,
8 June 2025
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But to chew out his boss--Edwin Stanton, secretary of war--would be more than just getting close to the line of insubordination.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
12 Feb. 2025
Verb
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At a time when establishing clarity of first principles has never been more urgent, UF’s law school practically dared anyone to criticize the award for whitewashing the Constitution.—
Orlando Sentinel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 June 2025
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In his post, the New York state Assemblymember criticized online trolls for targeting Duwaji during his mayoral campaign.—
Callum Sutherland,
Time,
26 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dress down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dress%20down. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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