LAMBASTES Synonyms: 193 Similar and Opposite Words

lambastes

verb

variants or lambasts

present tense third-person singular of lambaste

as in scolds

to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings the director lambasted them mercilessly for forgetting their lines during the final dress rehearsal

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in attacks

to criticize harshly and usually publicly movie critics across the country lambasted the film for its contrived plot

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in licks

to strike repeatedly like all westerns, this movie contains the requisite scene of saloon patrons lambasting each other

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of lambastes Will Oscar and guild voters want to throw their weight behind a movie that lambastes the very technology that threatens their existence? — Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 6 July 2026 Mikey lambastes him anyway, turning a speech in praise of Richie into a searing evisceration. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 May 2026 Orbán frequently lambastes the EU, but its funding helped keep the country afloat despite his disastrous economic policies. — Elizabeth Shackelford, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026 Desire fires him, cuts him to pieces, lambastes him. — Literary Hub, 6 Feb. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for lambastes

Verb

In a video shared by De La Espriella’s office Tuesday, the president scolds some of the suspects captured by police.

— ABC News, ABC News, 27 Oct. 2026
In a video shared by De la Espriella’s office Tuesday, the president scolds some of the suspects captured by police.

— Manuel Rueda, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of scolds

Verb

Republican rival Rick Jackson has spent heavily portraying Bottoms’ Atlanta mayoralty as a failure, focusing on crime and 2020 protests — attacks some supporters say carry racial and gender overtones.

— Bill Barrow, Los Angeles Times, 28 Oct. 2026
Back in 2023, Stevens revealed he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome—a rare auto-immune disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves—and was working to relearn how to walk and use his hands.

— Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of attacks

Verb

That glib self-confidence is present in McNamara, who licks the doughnut glaze off his fingers before offering his hand to the female detective questioning the one living Jason.

— Scott Tobias, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026
Later, a woman protractedly licks blue ice cream from a cone, her attempts thwarted by ferocious gusts of wind and sand.

— Matilda Hague, Variety, 13 Aug. 2026

Definition of licks

Verb

Cervera, who often publicly criticizes school district decisions, defends his criticism of Fernandez.

— Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 30 Oct. 2026
At an October debate, Bass pointed out that Raman, as chair of the city council’s housing and homelessness committee, had repeatedly approved spending on Inside Safe, the very program Raman now criticizes as expensive and insufficiently accountable.

— Maxwell Adler, Vanity Fair, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of criticizes

Verb

There’s seat-shaking violence in how the whale breaches the surface and slams its weight back down (the crafty sound design is by James Miller) and body horror in its claustrophobic, spongy inner chambers.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
There are currently more than 85,000 customers without power across the Northeast, including New York City and Connecticut, as an intensifying early-season nor’easter slams the region with strong wind, soaking rain and coastal flooding.

— Rebekah Riess, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of slams

Verb

Smullen’s campaign launched an anti-Constantino website that excoriates him for, among many other things, his past registration as a Democrat.

— Michael Hill, Fortune, 12 June 2026
Woodcutters sets forth the musings of a narrator sitting in an armchair at a dinner party who excoriates the literary awards establishments of his native land (and by extension all lands that are host to a robust bourgeoisie).

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Feb. 2026

Definition of excoriates

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“Lambastes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lambastes. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of lambastes

verb

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