as in to rail (at or against)
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Recent Examples of tell off
Lombardi had voiced her concerns about the impact of the Blue Angels flying over Seattle in 2023, telling off the squadron in an expletive-laden tirade.
—
Janhvi Bhojwani, NBC news, 24 July 2025
Season three will include toxic men (pretends to be shocked!), Marciano’s story being questioned (clutching my pearls!), and Taylor telling off her mom (wait, actually, yes, please).
—Olivia Crandall, Vulture, 1 July 2025
Rivera’s sharp sense of style, hanging out and making plans, eating sticky rice and ketchup, telling off old boyfriends and listening to music.
—Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2025
Moo's hilarious response to being told off is a textbook example of this temperament.
—Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
Maybe Simón was a malcontent who told off manager Clayton McCullough.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
Stephen King made a surprise return to X on Feb. 20 to tell off President Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of which owns the social media platform.
—Zack Sharf, Variety, 21 Feb. 2025
Deliverance is a game about being told off for sleeping in other people's beds.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Feb. 2025
Janhvi Bhojwani, NBC news, 24 July 2025
Season three will include toxic men (pretends to be shocked!), Marciano’s story being questioned (clutching my pearls!), and Taylor telling off her mom (wait, actually, yes, please).
—Olivia Crandall, Vulture, 1 July 2025
Rivera’s sharp sense of style, hanging out and making plans, eating sticky rice and ketchup, telling off old boyfriends and listening to music.
—Caroline Kubzansky, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2025
Moo's hilarious response to being told off is a textbook example of this temperament.
—Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
Maybe Simón was a malcontent who told off manager Clayton McCullough.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025
Stephen King made a surprise return to X on Feb. 20 to tell off President Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of which owns the social media platform.
—Zack Sharf, Variety, 21 Feb. 2025
Deliverance is a game about being told off for sleeping in other people's beds.
—David Faris, Newsweek, 3 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tell off
Verb
-
ConocoPhillips announced plans to cut up to 25% of its global staff.—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Time,
5 Jan. 2026
-
Meanwhile, as all of this is happening, Meredith is cutting up with the other ladies at the spa, without a care in the world.—
Tom Smyth,
Vulture,
31 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Women stopped to bawl out the police, who accepted this dressing-down with quiet embarrassment.—
National Geographic,
National Geographic,
11 Aug. 2020
Verb
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Instead of the standard chewing out, the senior played a clip of his freshman defensive back counterpart recognizing a screen, shedding a block and securing the first solo tackle of his career against No. 5 Georgia last week.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
10 Nov. 2025
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Being chewed out was nothing new, part of life as a football player.—
Nick Kosmider,
New York Times,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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On that night in March, to the surprise of nobody, Arsenal ran their mid-table Premier League hosts ragged, beating them 5-1, with Henry and Freddie Ljungberg scoring twice, and Kolo Toure netting the other.—
Dan Sheldon,
New York Times,
11 Jan. 2026
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In November, Green spoke to PEOPLE at the 2025 CMA Awards in Nashville, and shared a similar story about his friends ragging on him for being crowned Sexiest Country Star Alive.—
Rachel DeSantis,
PEOPLE,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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The handy bag goes with just about any outfit and can be dressed down for dog walks or dressed up for dinner out on the town.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
11 Jan. 2026
-
These pull-on style pants can easily be dressed down with a T-shirt to wear casually, or with a nice blouse or dress shirt and be boardroom-ready.—
Caroline Hughes,
Travel + Leisure,
7 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Fret about finding ways to score and the offense punishes you.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
10 Jan. 2026
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The state’s drought-free status is welcome news for water managers, but residents in some regions are still recovering from a series of punishing atmospheric river storms that brought intense rain and flooding.—
Denise Chow,
NBC news,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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On Thursday, when speaking to reporters at the White House, Vice President JD Vance scolded the media for not mentioning that the same ICE officer who shot Good was previously seriously injured during the car-dragging incident.—
Rachel Wolf,
FOXNews.com,
10 Jan. 2026
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This is not a bunch of people trying to scold for something that is a part of some kind of ideology.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Ben smashes chests and heads in, tears jaws out, rips faces off, and director Johannes Roberts makes sure to include brief close-ups of the carnage, lit just dimly enough to avoid truly grossing us out.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
9 Jan. 2026
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Players from both teams were jawing at each other after the final buzzer sounded, presumably because the Bulls did not like the Bucks' final breakaway pass to Antetokounmpo, but things never escalated, and everyone left the floor.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
28 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tell off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tell%20off. Accessed 14 Jan. 2026.
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