as in scolding
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
we could hear the cook in the kitchen railing against his assistant and wondered if we'd ever get our food
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for railing (at or against)
Verb
-
First, as the Florida ACLU’s Howard Simon points out, Uthmeier is not scolding another branch of government.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 Mar. 2026 -
Security guard Pascal Duvier, most recently infamous for allegedly scolding 11-year-old Ada Law at a hotel in São Paulo, is clearing the air.—
Emily St. Martin,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Therefore, now is not the time to be lecturing our partners and allies.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
3 Mar. 2026
-
That includes lecturing, building curriculum, pursuing research and speaking about university policy.—
Cate Charron,
IndyStar,
18 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Mullin pulled no punches in dressing down Democrats for the delay.—
Nicole Sganga,
CBS News,
7 Apr. 2026
-
During her six-year tenure, Porter often went viral for wielding a whiteboard to emphasize her points while dressing down corporate executives in congressional hearings.—
Lia Russell
February 19,
Sacbee.com,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Hart was reprimanding Ross for doing what is the most offensive thing a comedian can do — suck up to the most important person in the room — and enforcing an old ethic in comedy, which is not apologizing for your jokes.—
Robert Lynch,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Apr. 2026
-
Indeed, Ye didn’t say much of anything during the two-hour concert beyond a number of reprimanding comments directed at his stage crew.—
Mikael Wood,
Los Angeles Times,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
It is filled with articles criticizing America’s involvement in overseas wars.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 2026
-
This includes Baldoni requesting his public relations representatives to amplify a video criticizing Lively as insensitive to domestic violence survivors.—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
2 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
That year, the family of a patient who died filed a lawsuit blaming him for failing to diagnose her lung cancer.—
Peter Elkind,
ProPublica,
9 Apr. 2026
-
There are ways of pointing this out without explicitly blaming her.—
R. Eric Thomas,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The episode ends with Kyle’s mom chewing out Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his actions in the ongoing war.—
Tiney Ricciardi,
Denver Post,
25 Sep. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Railing (at or against).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/railing%20%28at%20or%20against%29. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
