Library / English Dictionary

SCOLD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault

Synonyms:

common scold; nag; nagger; scold; scolder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("scold" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scold"):

harridan (a scolding (even vicious) old woman)

Derivation:

scold (show one's unhappiness or critical attitude)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Censure severely or angrily

Example:

The customer dressed down the waiter for bringing cold soup

Synonyms:

bawl out; berate; call down; call on the carpet; chew out; chew up; chide; dress down; have words; jaw; lambast; lambaste; lecture; rag; rebuke; remonstrate; reprimand; scold; take to task; trounce

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "scold" is one way to...):

criticise; criticize; knock; pick apart (find fault with; express criticism of; point out real or perceived flaws)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scold"):

castigate; chasten; chastise; correct; objurgate (censure severely)

brush down; tell off (reprimand)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot scold Sue

Derivation:

scolder (someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault)

scolding (rebuking a person harshly)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show one's unhappiness or critical attitude

Example:

We grumbled about the increased work load

Synonyms:

grouch; grumble; scold

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "scold" is one way to...):

complain; kick; kvetch; plain; quetch; sound off (express complaints, discontent, displeasure, or unhappiness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

scold; scolder (someone (especially a woman) who annoys people by constantly finding fault)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Now don’t scold, don’t you dare scold,” she cried with mock defiance.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To their ears came the sounds of dogs wrangling and scuffling, the guttural cries of men, the sharper voices of scolding women, and once the shrill and plaintive cry of a child.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

She was lost, and when she had scolded back her senses, she found the others still waiting for the carriage, and Mr Elliot (always obliging) just setting off for Union Street on a commission of Mrs Clay's.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

But he was too deep, and too ready, and too clever for me, and by the time the two men had come back out of breath and confessed that they had lost the track in a crowd, and been scolded like thieves, I would have gone bail for the innocence of Long John Silver.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I have been scolding him to such a degree, my dear Catherine, you would be quite amazed.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I do not know when I shall have done scolding you, and had discretion enough to reserve the rest till they might be secure of having four walls to themselves.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It's dreadful, but I can't scold him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded and reproached him.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Poor soul! I pity HER. And I must say, I think she was used very hardly; for your sister scolded like any fury, and soon drove her into a fainting fit.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He shook his head; but there was a smile of indulgence with it, and he only said, I shall not scold you.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)