as in scolded
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 dressed down
Robin Raven, Travel + Leisure, 13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
Yet, they can still be dressed down with a tank top or T-shirt.
—Robin Raven, Travel + Leisure, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dressed down
Verb
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Chun also scolded attorneys for Amazon in July for withholding thousands of documents from the FTC and abusing a legal privilege to shield them from scrutiny.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
23 Sep. 2025
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The heartwarming video, shared on Saturday by @inboxunknown15, shows the pup sitting head down, facing the wall, looking sad and ashamed after being scolded by his owner’s girlfriend.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Compared to their forerunners in the tsarist era, with their party congresses held abroad, their executive committees, and their active recruitment in imperial Russia’s universities, Soviet dissidents remained a comparatively small and informal conglomeration of activists.—
Benjamin Nathans
September 24,
Literary Hub,
24 Sep. 2025
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Of those who stay, more than eighty per cent work in the informal sector—as domestic servants, street hawkers, porters, cleaners.—
Kapil Komireddi,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Clarke and his business partner sold photographs and films, wrote and lectured about their adventures, and began treasure hunting.—
Danny Robb,
JSTOR Daily,
26 Sep. 2025
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Vance lectured Zelenskyy and argued the wartime leader hadn’t shown proper gratitude for the billions of dollars in military assistance the United States has given to his country.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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These muscles also act as synergists, working with your glutes and core to maintain alignment through everyday activities.—
Dana Santas,
CNN Money,
26 Sep. 2025
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And Democrats should be willing to stand and fight for the basic economic well being of everyday people.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
26 Sep. 2025
Verb
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There is a form of right-of-center liberalism that is content with status hierarchies, that is very unhappy with anything that makes people feel reprimanded.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2025
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The college was being reprimanded amid allegations of antisemitism on campus and activism led in part by Mahmoud Khalil, a foreign student organizing against Israel’s war in Gaza.—
Naomi Lim,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Team it with ballet flats or sneakers for a casual day of apple-picking or tailgating this fall, or dress it up with tights and boots for holiday celebrations and other special occasions.—
Clara McMahon,
PEOPLE,
28 Sep. 2025
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The teal stood out in the parade of super-casual fits.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Stokes apparently called down to Bell, who answered.—
Rachel Wolf,
FOXNews.com,
12 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Another general from the Haitian Revolution, Alexandre Pétion, whom Christophe blamed for the assassination, became president over the republic seated in the southwestern city of Port-au-Prince.—
Marlene L. Daut
September 22,
Literary Hub,
22 Sep. 2025
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Britt Cudaback, spokesperson for Evers, blamed lawmakers for the resulting closures.—
Laura Schulte,
jsonline.com,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dressed down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dressed%20down. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.
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