as in reprimands
to criticize (someone) severely or angrily especially for personal failings
he scolded the kids for not cleaning up the mess they had made in the kitchen
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Recent Examples of scolds
Pete Hammond, Deadline, 12 May 2026
Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.
—Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
McMahon likes to remind scolds that wrestling is a morality play.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
This cross-partisan skit is refreshing and the only people who might hate it are Cuomo supporters and maybe some woke scolds.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
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
Or on Bluesky with the joke scolds, or on Mastodon with the Linux hackers, or on Threads with the voice-forward brands?
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
The crew sets sail to the North Pole and Anderson scolds his crew to be more focused.
—Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 10 Nov. 2025
Verb
Stumbling on to this ruse, Antoine’s friend and manager Armand (Gilles Lellouche) immediately can tell Suzanne is a fake and scolds her for exploiting his friend’s grief.
—Pete Hammond, Deadline, 12 May 2026
Or tie scolds to the ducking stool again.
—Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2026
McMahon likes to remind scolds that wrestling is a morality play.
—Zach Helfand, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
This cross-partisan skit is refreshing and the only people who might hate it are Cuomo supporters and maybe some woke scolds.
—Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
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
Or on Bluesky with the joke scolds, or on Mastodon with the Linux hackers, or on Threads with the voice-forward brands?
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
The crew sets sail to the North Pole and Anderson scolds his crew to be more focused.
—Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 10 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scolds
Verb
-
His supervisor appears as a ticket conductor and reprimands him for doing nothing.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Bad teams are given mechanisms to recover, not lectures about bootstraps.—
Eddie Brown,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
30 May 2026
-
When not writing, May frequently lectures on the politics and policies of mass incarceration for university classes, academic conferences, and online events.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Read's suit criticizes police for not searching the home where O'Keefe was found for blood, fingerprints or DNA evidence.—
Nadine El-Bawab,
ABC News,
4 June 2026
-
The suit also criticizes ChatGPT’s propensity to agree with users, arguing that the service’s sycophancy can lead users to develop dangerous psychological attachment to the platform and cause users to pay money to unlock more generous usage quotas.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
1 June 2026
Noun
-
Alas, nitpickers can point to some moves in which Atlanta went backward.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
1 May 2026
-
Maybe that’s why, compared with some other kinds of nitpickers, pop critics can seem especially extraneous.—
Kelefa Sanneh,
New Yorker,
25 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Davenport blames it on the business’s contraction.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
28 May 2026
-
Faye, disappointed to see that the safe has no money, blames Rue for the deception and screams to wake her boyfriend.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2026
Noun
-
Even a shallow dive into the metrics makes Makar critics look all wet.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
31 May 2026
-
As the country heads toward a national election, the leader once celebrated as a healer is now viewed by critics as the main driver of these schisms.—
Nimi Princewill,
CNN Money,
31 May 2026
Verb
-
Judge admonishes Musk over social media use Musk is seeking $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI’s charitable arm.—
Deepa Seetharaman,
USA Today,
29 Apr. 2026
-
Deeply religious, Jean’s mother, in the film, admonishes her.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
And Vance berates Democrats in a visit to Minneapolis.—
Kayla Hayempour,
NBC news,
23 Jan. 2026
-
Cast members performed on The Tonight Show and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, in a sketch in which host Bad Bunny berates his friends for failing to grasp the movie’s brilliance.—
Eliza Berman,
Time,
9 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scolds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scolds. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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