1
as in scolds
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
her husband flayed her constantly for her incessant shopping
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flays
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 -
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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Vought Rising — but Jensen Ackles can't leave the set until someone peels him out of his costume.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 Mar. 2026
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These are all native plants, but there are also non-native options such as paperbark maple (Acer griseum), with coppery bark that peels decoratively.—
Beth Botts,
Chicago Tribune,
8 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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In Network, Sidney Lumet cast Duvall as Frank Hackett, a broadcast television executive who barks about his lack of principles loudly and often.—
Peter Tonguette,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Feb. 2026
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And perhaps some—Ho Jin just barks at him to take it all and grumbles that Ji Seon is a bad influence.—
Hannah Abraham,
Forbes.com,
29 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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Each nation blames the other for starting the fighting that flared in July and December.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Mar. 2026
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The historian blames lil T’s shift from team player to lone wolf.—
Brittany Allen,
Literary Hub,
17 Mar. 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
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Cite this Entry
“Flays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flays. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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