told off

Definition of told offnext
past tense of tell off

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for told off
Verb
  • By the third period, with his nose cut up, Kesselring was on the ice in the final minute of the game, helping to get it to overtime.
    Matthew Fairburn, New York Times, 17 Jan. 2026
  • To meet that goal, the grantmaker will cut up to 500 of its 2,375 staff positions by 2030, including some open roles that may remain unfilled.
    Stephanie Beasley, Fortune, 14 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Rih dressed down the whimsy, in a white tee, jeans, and a fuzzyz white scarf.
    Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 28 Jan. 2026
  • And while a cape is an elevated design, it can also be dressed down, and jeans are a great way to do so.
    Morgan Evans, InStyle, 15 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • 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
Verb
  • Being chewed out was nothing new, part of life as a football player.
    Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
  • About eight or nine hours into a punishing shoot, nerves were fraying, and Mike McGuirk was getting chewed out by a camera operator.
    Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Students sat in rows, making faces at each other, scolded by their teachers to behave.
    David Wilson, Daily News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders scolded the media on Sunday after the team’s close loss to the Buffalo Bills at home.
    Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 22 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • At a hearing two days after the government dropped its charges against Baraka, the judge upbraided Stephen Demanovich, a federal prosecutor who had been assigned the case.
    Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 19 Jan. 2026
  • During cross-examination, he was upbraided for long answers that did not immediately answer the question he had been asked.
    Greg O'Keeffe, New York Times, 9 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Anyone standing near you has the right not to get screamed at, berated, or kicked in the nuts.
    Frederick Dreier, Outside, 6 Dec. 2025
  • Earlier in the month, a Thai pageant director berated Bosch during a pre-pageant meeting, triggering a mass walkout of contestants.
    Oscar Holland, CNN Money, 29 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Microsoft, on the other hand, was punished for its spending plans and slowdown in cloud growth.
    Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 30 Jan. 2026
  • Should Belichick have been punished?
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 28 Jan. 2026
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Told off.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/told%20off. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.

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