as in to rail (at or against)
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Recent Examples of tell off
Moo's hilarious response to being told off is a textbook example of this temperament.
—
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
One scene, shows another donkey picking up a small goat and running around with it in their mouth, before being told off.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 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
The West Coast rapper took to TikTok to share a 50 Cent meme where the Queens rapper was confused about being told off by Floyd Mayweather.
—Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Two small feral-looking kids, ragged, both looked about seven years old, had been told off several times for knocking some of these flimsy chairs to one side as if to let the horse out.
—Ali Smith, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
The text overlay reads: POV you're being told off at 24 and 27.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
The Panathinaikos substitutes and coaches, arms locked on the touchline, were told off for encroaching onto the pitch.
—Nick Miller, The Athletic, 16 Aug. 2024
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025
One scene, shows another donkey picking up a small goat and running around with it in their mouth, before being told off.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 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
The West Coast rapper took to TikTok to share a 50 Cent meme where the Queens rapper was confused about being told off by Floyd Mayweather.
—Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 3 Sep. 2019
Two small feral-looking kids, ragged, both looked about seven years old, had been told off several times for knocking some of these flimsy chairs to one side as if to let the horse out.
—Ali Smith, Harper's Magazine, 2 Jan. 2025
The text overlay reads: POV you're being told off at 24 and 27.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 17 Jan. 2025
The Panathinaikos substitutes and coaches, arms locked on the touchline, were told off for encroaching onto the pitch.
—Nick Miller, The Athletic, 16 Aug. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tell off
Verb
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Maria is a former basketball player for the University of New Orleans Maria cut up the court herself, as a Division I basketball player for the University of New Orleans from 1993 to 1996, per the Rutgers University website.—
Christopher Rudolph,
People.com,
25 June 2025
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Video and phone recordings showed Frey cutting up a rubber glove, filling it with something and stuffing the package into an arrow shaft during a call with Smith.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Instances when the coach chewed out the quarterback for being late on a throw.—
Brad Biggs,
Chicago Tribune,
8 June 2025
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But to chew out his boss--Edwin Stanton, secretary of war--would be more than just getting close to the line of insubordination.—
arkansasonline.com,
arkansasonline.com,
12 Feb. 2025
Verb
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This would keep the family large enough to deploy members to public events without running the dwindling royals ragged.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
8 June 2025
-
Roberts, who often looked to me like an English schoolboy—rumpled shirt, rep tie—had worked with Tina to transform the British magazine Tatler from a staid society rag into a place of mischief.—
Hilton Als,
New Yorker,
2 June 2025
Verb
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Bailey dressed down in a casual look which featured white jeans, a blue denim button-down shirt, a dark brown blazer and baseball hat.—
Jay Stahl,
USA Today,
19 June 2025
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They were given lectures on the First Amendment and dressed down on their language and behavior.—
Deborah Baker
June 3,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2025
Verb
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Instead of being punished for keeping coal unburned, these communities can be rewarded and reinvested in jobs, renewables, and resilience.—
Michael Sheldrick,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
-
At the end of Season 2, In-ho so graciously betrays everybody and eventually sneaks away from the pack, fakes his own death of the walkie talkie, and then puts his mask back on and punishes Gi-hun for causing this whole revolt and shoots and kills his best friend right in front of him.—
Jim Halterman,
Variety,
1 July 2025
Verb
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Paul Krugman has referred to deficit hawks as ‘deficit scolds’, because the spend more time warning about the dangers of the deficit than fixing it.—
Mike O'Sullivan,
Forbes.com,
28 June 2025
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Musk and Gor reportedly clashed in Cabinet meetings where Musk scolded Gor over personnel disagreements in recent months.—
Ally Goelz,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Sakkari started jawing at Putintseva, and Putintseva responded with a curtsy.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
24 June 2025
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Neto took exception, jawing at Brown and pointing two fingers at the pitcher, a reminder that this was the second time Brown had plunked him with a pitch.—
Mike Digiovanna,
Oc Register,
21 June 2025
Verb
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Nonetheless, the missing performers were lectured by Richard Grenell, Trump’s new president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts—a man with, inevitably, no experience in any of them—that performers must perform for people of all political parties.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
13 June 2025
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At the Cooper Union in New York in November, Sumner again lectured on Adams’s theory, while a group of Republicans and radical abolitionists sat behind his podium on the stage.—
Zaakir Tameez
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Tell off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tell%20off. Accessed 5 Jul. 2025.
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